\ 


THE  UNIVERSITY 


THE 


LIGHT  THROWN  ON  DARK  PLACES. 


BY 

JASPER  NEWTON  SMITH, 
'/ 

MBTUCHEN,    N.   J. 


PUBLISHED  BY 

J.  NEWTON  SMITH, 

METUCHEN,  N.  J. 


COPYRIGHT,  1914, 

BY 
JASPER  NEWTON  SMITH, 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

PREFACE         .         .         ,'.••.  .       17 
CHAPTER  I. 

THE  SALOON  BUSINESS           .  21 

Formula  for  Making  Chicken  Feed  22 

Formula  for  Making  Beer.         .  .          22 

CHAPTER  II. 

IN  THE  BEGINNING           ...  25 

Terms  of  Partnership.         .         .  .         26 
CHAPTER  III. 

LIABILITY           .....  29 

Governor  Wilson  on  Liability.  .   .      .31 

Comments  on  the  Foregoing.  .         .32 

CHAPTER  IV. 

NEW  BRUNSWICK  ORDINANCE,           t.  ,                   33 

A  Business  Arrangement.           .  .         34 

How  to  Make  Application.         .  .         35 

The  Dive.         .         .         .         ^  .         37 

Care  For  Future  Generations.  39 

Procedure  In  Cases  of  Violation.  :1  .        41 

Violations.  43 


PAGE 

CHAPTER  V. 

A  CAT  LICENSE.  ,  ...       46 

CHAPTER  VI. 

LOCAL    EVENTS.  ....  48 

The  Application.  .                   .            50 

Remonstrance.  -.         .         .        52 

As  It  Is  In  East  Orange.         .         .          59 

The  Arbiter  .            .             .             61 

CHAPTER  VII. 

HOW  TO  START  A  SALOON,  .  67 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

PARALLEL  CASES  .  .  68 

CHAPTER  IX. 

POST  OFFICES  AND  SALOONS,     .  72 

Evils  of  Beer  Peddling.  .          .  74 

CHAPTER  X. 

DRUNKENNESS  AND  DISEASE  77 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  STATE  VS.  YOUTH.  80 


PAGE 

CHAPTER  XII. 

NEWSPAPER  INFLUENCES, 

"The  Reason." 

The  One  Great  Question. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  CAT  OUT  OF  THE  BAG. 

Is  Beer  a  Temperance  Agent? 

A  Cry  For  Help. 

The  President's  Message. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

ANOTHER  CONFERENCE,  97 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  BREWERS'  ARGUMENT, 

The  Poor  Man's  Club. 

Human  Want  Supplied. 

Comments  on  the  foregoing. 

Public  Sentiment. 

Saloons  Throw  Men  Out  of  Employment  116 

A  Market  for  Grain. 

An  Incident  in  the  Life  of  Rev.  Sawyer.   1 

Human  Longing. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

190 

HYPOCRISY  OF  PROHIBITION 


PAGE 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

CLARENCE    DARROW 

*  J.  *5*5 

Liberty  vs.  Prohibition.         .  137 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

WE  DO  NOT  HAUL  MEN  INTO  THE  SALOON  137 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

ALCOHOL  A  PRESERVER.  .  ,  j42 

CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  LAW  AS  IT  IS  IN  HOBOKEN.  .  144 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  CANTEEN,  ...  147 

The  Parcel  Post  .  15  j 

CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  POLITICAL  VINTAGE.  .  ,          .  155 

CHAPTER  XXIII., 

THE  MAYOR  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY,  175 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
THE  DOG.          .•;      .. 


PAGE 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  SABBATH  AND  MAN.  ,  .  189 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

OUR    REPUBLIC,  .  ,  •  „  193 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE  EAST  SIDE.  ,  201 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

A  COMMUNITY,        ,  .  ,  205 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

STUMBLING  BLOCKS.  .  •  t?          208 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE  LAW,  .  ,  214 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

A  RIGHT  TO  DO  WRONG  IS  NOT  A  RIGHT.  219 


PREFACE. 


IN  selecting  our  subject  we  place  ourselves  under 
great  embarrassment.  If  we  tell  the  truth,  we  are 
sure  to  give  offense;  and  to  withhold  the  truth  would 
be  to  abandon  the  subject  altogether.  "This  world 
is  a  stage  and  all  men  are  actors;" 

It  is  our  purpose  to  lift  the  curtain  to  show  the 
actors  on  the  stage. 

Insincerity,  inconsistency  and  individual  interest  have 
totally  hidden  the  actors  on  the  stage  and  obscured 
the  vision  of  all  not  behind  the  curtain. 

If  the  acts  of  a  few  men  affect  the  welfare  of  man- 
kind in  general,  certainly  one  cannot  be  censured  for 
truthfully  revealing  their  acts:  but  the  truth  will  give 
greater  offense  than  misrepresentation.  We  console 
ourselves  with  the  fact  that  if  some  are  offended,  it 
will  be  because  of  the  truth. 

For  generations,  the  subject  has  been  presented  from 
every  view-point.  The  most  eloquent  men  have  shown 
the  subject  from  the  view-point  of  morals;  but  those 
who  are  engaged  in  the  rum  traffic  are  not  susceptible 


18  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 

to  moral  sentiment,  and  eloquence  and  argument 
have  made  no  impression  upon  those  who  are  respon- 
sible. The  chemist  has  analyzed  alcohol  and  shown  to 
science  that  it  is  poisonous  to  the  human  system;  and 
medical  men  have  shown  that  alcohol  produces  more 
diseases,  directly  and  indirectly,  than  any  other  cause. 

Abundance  of  proofs  have  been  given  that  alcohol 
produces  poverty  and  crime.  Beer  manufacturers  and 
distillers  have  closed  their  eyes,  their  ears  and  their 
hearts  to  all  proofs. 

The  almighty  dollar  is  held  so  close  to  their  eyes 
that  it  shuts  out  the  view  of  all  else. 

Statistics  have  presented  startling  views  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  evils  that  result  from  the  traffic; 
but  statistics  are  incomprehensible  to  most  minds  and 
have  no  part  in  matters  of  right  and  wrong,  or  in 
questions  of  morals.  Large  numbers  are  as  incom- 
prehensible to  the  human  mind  as  the  extent  of  space. 

A  billion  of  dollars  is  as  incomprehensible  as  the 
distance  to  the  stars. 

The  habit  of  exaggeration  has  helped  to  impair  our 
comprehension  of  numbers,  We  often  say  'thousands' 
when  we  mean  dozens. 

We  can  say  nothing  new  on  the  subject  of  temper- 
ance; we  can  only  present  old  truths  in  a  new  light, 
and  show  who  are  responsible  for  the  saloons 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.  19 

It  makes  no  difference  where  we  begin  or  which 
way  we  go  to  consider  the  subject,  we  arrive  at  the 
same  conclusion. 

Writers  and  speakers  have  been  very  courteous  to- 
wards their  opponents,  and  have  talked  of  "wrong," 
and  have  been  so  impersonal  in  their  talks,  that  guilty 
ones  could  not  take  offense;  but  we  have  chosen  to  talk 
of  "wrong-doers"  and  we  have  tried  to  be  very  personal. 

"Wrong"  is  an  abstract  noun  when  considered  apart 
from  any  substance,  we  are  after  the  substance;  those 
who  are  responsible  for  the  wrong. 

We  illustrate  principles  by  incidents  and  events,  and 
we  analyze  events  by  principles;  we  use  current  events 
that  are  of  recent  date,  and  which  come  under  our 
observation,  or  that  come  to  us  through  the  news  of 
the  day.  If  we  write  on  current  events,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  give  the  names  of  the  actors  as  well 
as  the  time  and  place,  in  order  to  vouch  for  the  truth- 
fulness of  the  events,  and  we  are  conscious  that  we 
may  appear  very  discourteous  toward  those  whom  we 
would  prefer  to  honor,  but  are  forced  to  offend. 

As  we  use  events  to  illustrate  principles,  we  must 
appear  very  rambling,  even  flitting  from  one  thing  to 
another  without  apparent  connection;  but  it  is  the 
way  we  must  pursue. 

We  have,  in  some  cases,  used  ridecule  in    speaking 


20  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 

of  persons  but,  as  we  have  used  ridicule  only  in  speakr 
ing  of  persons  who  occupy  high  positions;  who  advance 
ideas  so  inconsistent  with  their  high  positions,  that 
our  ridicule  may  be  considered  a  compliment,  that  we 
expected  better  things  of  them. 

Our  aim  has  been  to  answer  the  arguments  of  the 
brewers  and  the  distillers  and  the  lawmakers,  and  all 
the  advocate  of  the  saloon,  and  to  place  the  blame 
for  the  conditions,  on  the  responsible  parties. 

We  have  placed  the  lawmakers  in  the  front  rank 
and  charged  them  with  the  responsibility.  We  have 
tried  to  show  that  the  lawmakers  are  insincere,  and 
guilty  of  duplicity;  and  that  they  work  in  the  interests 
of  the  brewers,  and  against  the  interests  of  the  citizens 
of  the  state  in  general. 

Hoping  that  we  may  help  to  open  the  eyes  of  the 
American  people,  that  they  may  get  a  glance  at  the 
power  behind  the  "system;''  we  submit  this  book  for 
consideration. 

JASPER  NEWTON  SMITH, 

Metuchen,  N.  J. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.          21 


CHAPTER  I 


The  Saloon  Business. 

The  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  business,  is  the 
only  business  that  is  entirely  devoted  to  supplying  the 
stomach  with  poison,  all  other  kinds  of  business,  in 
one  way  or  another,  contribute  to  the  welfare  of  man- 
kind. 

Farmers,  butchers,  mauufacturers  and  others  sup- 
ply us  with  the  necessities  and  the  luxuries  of  life. 

Carriers,  by  land  and  sea,  distribute  articles  of  com- 
merce; and  all  of  these  different  kinds  of  business  are 
regulated  by  laws  to  safeguard  the  best  interests  of 
man.  The  laws  require  that  all  things  sold  for  food 
shall  be  pure  and  healthful;  and  the  water  we  drink 
shall  be  as  pure  and  healthful  as  filtration  and  care- 
fully guarded  watersheds  can  make  it. 

Our  milk  must  be  unadulterated,  and  be  produced 
under  the  most  healthful  conditions. 

Every  thing  we  eat  must  be  chemically  pure. 

The  laws  require  wholesome  food  for  our  domestic 
animals. 


22        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 


Poisonous  alcoholic  drinks  which  are  sold  for  the 
use  of  man  are  made  by  irresponsible,  avaricious 
sellers  and  mixers.  Why  be  so  careful  of  the  food 
we  eat  and  what  we  feed  our  domestic  animals,  and 
so  indifferent  to  the  drink  for  human  beings? 

Formula  For  Making  Chicken  Feed. 

Protein  10  per  cent. 
Fat  3  per  cent. 
Fiber  5  per  rent. 
Ingredients: 
Cracked  corn,  wheat,  clipped  oats  and  buckwheat. 

Formula  For  Making  Beer. 

Sulphite  of  lime  as  a  cleanser:  tartaric    acid,    salicylic 
acid,  acrolic  acid,  karrummeda  sulphite  as  preservatives: 

juniper  berries  as  antidote  for  the  salicylic  acid:    citric 

•». 

acid  as  a  flavor:    benzoic   as    a    deodorizer:     and  tanic 

acid  as  a  bleacher. 
JQ 

The  above  formula  for  making  beer  was  given  by  a 
brewer  before  the  Philadelphia  Commission. 

The  brewer  said  that  most  of  the  beer  made  in  the 
United  State  was  made  by  this  formula. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.  23 

The  stomach  is  the  most  important  organ  of  the  body. 
It  is  the  depot  of  supplies  and  furnishes  every  part  of 
the  body  with  the  necessary  nourishment;  and  prepares 
the  food  for  assimilation  by  the  various  organs  of  the 
body.  The  body  requires  healthful  food,  prepared  and 
adapted  to  its  requiements.  If  the  food  is  not  carefully 
selected  and  prepared,  the  body  will  not  be  properly 
nourished.  Nothing  should  be  taken  into  the  stomach 
that  injures  the  body;  nothing  should  be  put  into  the 
stomach  that  destroys  the  function  of  the  stomach. 

It  is  strange  that  intelligent  lawmakers  should  estab- 
lish saloons  and  license  men  to  poison  the  stomachs  of 
those  who  are  too  weak  to  resist 
No  man  has  a  constitutional  right  to  sell,  or,  if  one  man 
has  a  right  to  sell,  all  men  have  the  same  right,  for 
it  is  not  according  to  American  ideas  of  llbercy  and 
equal  rights:  that  one  man  can  buy  constitutional  rights 
that  are  denied  to  others.  It  is  strange  that  the  law- 
makers would  go  outside  of  the  natural  rights  of  man 
to  make  agents  for  brewers,  and  thereby  bring  a  curse 
on  mankind. 

The  drunkard  is  the  finished  product  of  the  saloon; 
but  he  is  less  harmful  than  the  moderate  drinker. 

It  is  the  moderate  drinker  who  introduces  the  young 
man  to  the  social  element  of  the  bar-room  and  starts 
innocence  on  the  downward  path. 


24         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 


The  beginning  of  the  drunkard's,  course  is  usually 
when  the  youth  is  in  his  "teens";  for  when  one  has 
reached  manhood,  and  has  not  tasted  alcoholic  drinks, 
he  is  not  very  apt  to  begin,  as  his  habits  are  formed, 
and  his  judgment  teaches  him  to  shun  that  which  has 
lined  so  many. 

The  activity  and  impulsiveness  of  youth  carries  him 
fast  and  far  when  he  has  once  left  the  path  of  total 
abstinence. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.  25 


CHAPTER  II 


In    The  Beginning 

Before  the  enactment  of  the  laws  that  now  obtain, 
for  regulating  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  the 
brewers  had  gained  a  strong  foot  hold,  and  were  so 
strong  financially,  and  had  become  so  deeply  interested 
in  the  production  and  the  consumption  of  beer,  that 
it  was  a  business  necessity,  for  them  to  have  agents  for 
for  the  sale  of  their  beer 

All  business  concerns  find  it  necessary  to  use  large 
sums  of  money  to  exploit  their  business  and  their 
goods. 

The  brewers,  being  engaged  in  a  business  that  netted 
a  large  profit  on  comparatively  small  outlay  for  labor 
and  material,  could  well  afford  to  use  money  to  influ- 
ence legislation.  The  brewers  had  a  great  advantage 
over  the  temperance  people,  for,  bv  spending  money, 
they  could  make  money;  while  the  temperance  advocates 
had  no  money  and  no  hopes  of  making  money,  even 
if  they  won.  It  was  money  againt  philanthropy,  and 
money  won. 


26         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 


In  their  attempt  to  regulate  the  sale  of  intoxicating 
liquors,  the  lawmakers  had  a  serious  problem  to  solve. 

They  must  safe-guard  the  interests  of  the  brewers  and 
deceive  the  people;  but  they  succeeded  in  both. 

The  title  of  the  law,  "to  regulate  the  sale  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors",  caused  the  unsophisticated  people  to 
think  the  regulation  would  either  improve  tne  quality  or 
reduce  the  quantity  of  the  liquors  sold.  But  the  law  did 
neither,  the  title  meant,  only,  to  regulate  the  manner  and 
means  of  selling,  by  which  the  full  out-put  of  the  brew- 
ery would  find  its  way  to  men's  stomachs,  and  not  miss 
a  man;  and  with  the  least  expense  to  the  brewers. 

There  has  not  been  a  single  law  made  that  prevents 
any  man  from  drinking  all  he  wants;  and  there  has 
no  law  been  made  that  prevents  the  saloonist  adulterat- 
ing liquors  as  much  as  he  pleases. 

G  There  are  men    who    make  it  a    business  of   selling 
jcipes  to    saloonists,  to    make  of  one  quart  of   liquor, 
,  *jvo  or  more  quarts,  by  adulteration. 

Terms  of  Partnership. 

It  was  expensive  for  the  brewers  to  peddle  their  beer 
from  house  to  house,  and,  distributing  agents  were 
a  business  necessity;  and  the  brewers,  not  having  the 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  27 


right  to  establish  agencies,  entered  into  tacit  partner- 
ship  with  the  lawmakers  on  terms  as  follows:  The 
lawmakers  were  to  make  such  laws  as  were  neces- 
sary for  the  best  interests  of  the  brewers  and  to  ap- 
point a  general  agent,  with  the  title  of  Judge  whose  duty 
should  be  to  appoint  sub-agents  in  every  locality  where 
(.  an^_agent  coujdprospei-;  and  to  ''foster  and  encourage 
ta&  the  beer  industry  '.  And  in  consideration  of  these  terms 
on  the  part  of  the  lawmakers,  the  brewers  were  to  sup- 
port the  lawmakers  politically;  to  allow  the  state  from 
five  hundred  to  one  thousand  dollars  per  agentf^V? 

The  terms  of  this  partnership,  briefly  expessed,  are, 
the  two  parties  were  to  help  each  other  and  share  the 
profits;  and  both  parties  have  adhered  to  the  terms.  ~  (- 

After  the  contract  was  made,  the  state  found    therev      >v>^ 
was  none  who  had  a  right  to  sell  but  it  selested  some 
men  who  had   no    right,    and    breathed  the    breath  of  /fafc* 
license  into  them  and  they    became  living    saloonists./gi^l 

Before  this  miracle,  it  was  wrong  to  sell  poison 
to  a  fellow  man,  but  after  the  miracle,  it  was  right. 

It  was  wrong  beause  of    the  evils  that  result    from    ^ 
the  use  of  alcoholic  drink,  but  the  license,  they  thought,  ^ 
would     remove     the     evil.     I  never     knew    or    heard 
that  the  sale  of  liquor  would  do  harm,  unless  some  one 
drank  it.     If  a    poisonous    serpent  had  a    license    to 
sting,  would  its  sting  be  less  fatal? 


28       THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 

By  this  act  of  the  lawmakers  they  assumed  all  the 
responsibility,  and  saloonists  are  free  from  all  blame. 

The  lawmakers,  not  only  establish  saloons,  knowing 
that  they  cause  crime,  but  they  take  money  for  it,  and 
taking  money  for  protecting  crime,  or  any  kind  of  evil, 
is  graft.  If  an  individual,  could  and  would  establish 
and  maintain  a  system  of  the  exact  nature  of  the  sa- 
loon, he  would  be  considered  too  dangerous  to  be  at  lib- 
erty. The  lawmakers  have  been  engaged  so  long  in 
this  partnership  business  that  they  do  not  blush  when 
they  look  an  innocent  man  in  the  face. 

The  license  fee  is  not  the  same  in  all  places;  it  de- 
pends upon  the  number  of  drinkers,  and  the  strength 
of  their  appetites  and  weakness  of  their  wills. 

The  misfortunes  of  the  drinkers  are  the  state's  as- 
sets which  it  sells  to  brewers  for  money. 

The  saloonist  does  the  dirty  work;  the  state  fur- 
nishes the  franchise  and  protection;  and  the  brewers 
furnish  the  beer.  The  state  takes  its  share  in  advance 
and  the  saloonist  has  to  hustle  to  make  his  living. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  29 


CHAPTER  III 


Liability. 

The  principle  upon  which  the  laws  of  liability  are 
based,  is  that  he  who  is  responsible  for  conditions, 
is  liable  for  any  injury  that  may  come  to  another  be- 
cause of  faulty  conditions.  ^f\/ 


^^  _£>— • -~~~~~ 

Ignorance  of  the  existence  of  defective  conditions  is 
no  excuse,  provided  the  defects  might  have  been  known 
by  careful  inspection  before  the  injury  was  done. 

It  is  not  enough  that  the  person  having  charge 
of  conditions  to  say  that  he  did  not  know  that  bad  con- 
ditions did  exist,  but  he  must  be  able  to  say  that  he 
knew  that  they  did  not  exist. 

All  cases  of  liability  brought  against  employers  by 
employees,  are  decided  according  to  this  principle. 

To  illustrate:  if  one  willfully  obstructs  the  sidewalk, 
thereby  causing  injury  to  another,  he  is  liable  because 
of  his  acts;  and  he  who  having  permission  of  the  proper 
authorty,  to  excavate  the  street,  and  leaves  it  in  a 
dangerous  condition,  causing  one  to  get  injured,  is  liable 
for  neglect. 


30       THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 

This  principle  is  applied  in  cases     of  moral  liability 
as  well  as  in  cases  of  personal    injury, 
To  illustrate:  He  who  corrupts  a  child  either  by  word 
or  deed,  or  leads  another  into  forbidden  paths,  is  mor- 
ally guilty,  and  should  he  responsible. 

The  same  principle  applies  when  one  permits  another 
to  be  injured  when  it  is  in  his  power  to  prevent  the 
injury.  To  illustrate:  If  a  man  sees  a  child  walking  close 
to  a  precipice,  and  knowing  the  danger  the  child  is  in; 
and  the  child's  lack  of  judgment;  refuses  or  neglects  to 
save  the  child,  and  in  consequence,  the  child  falls  to 
its  death;  that  man  is  morally,  if  not  legally  responsible. 

If  a  man  should  induce-  or  persuade,  or  in  any  way 
entice  a  youth  into  a  saloon  where  he  would  be 
exposed  to  temptation,  and  made  acquainted  with  the 
saloon  element;  and  because  of  this  introduction,  and 
inducement,  the  youth  should  become  a  drinker,  and 
develope  into  a  confirmed  drunkard;  that  man  who 
induced  the  youth,  is  responsible,  and  will  be  accounta- 
ble in  the  day  of  Judgment.  And  he  who  invites 
one  who  is  already  a  drunkard,  to  drink,  helps  to  in- 
crease the  drunkard's  desire,  and  lessen  his  chances  of 
reformation.  It  is  easier  for  a  man  to  deceive  himself, 
than  to  deceive  another.  In  a  manner,  we  are  all 
our  brother's  keeper. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.  31 

In  the  same  line  of  reasoning,  he  who    enacts    laws 
creating  saloons,    thereby    causing  injury  and  death,  is 

morally  liable  and  should  be  held  responsible  for  his  act. 

x**^\ 
AncNie  who  refuses  to  use  his  influence,  and  to  cast 

his  vote  to  save  the  thousands  of  young  men  who  are 
tottering  on  the  brink  of  the  precipice,  are  responsi- 
ble for  their  neglect. 

Governor   Wilson  on  Liability. 

Woodrow  Wilson,  Governor   ot    New  Jersey,  in  his 
speach  before  the  legislature,  on  the  subject  of  Corpo- 
rations, said:  "If  I  may  speak  plainly,  we  are  much  tov> 
free  with  grants  of    charters  to    corporations     in    New 
Jersey.     A  corporation  exists,  not  by  natural  right,  but 
by  license  of  law,  and    the    law,    if   we    look    at   the 
matter  in    good    conscience,    YOU  ARE  RESPONSI- 
BLE FOR  WHAT  IT  CREATES.  It  can  never  rightly 
authorize    any  kind  of  fraud  or  imposition.     It    cannot, 
righteously    allow  the  setting  up    of  a    business  which 
has  no  sound  basis,  or  which   outrages  justice    or    fair 
dealing  or    the   principle  of   honest  industry.     The  law 
cannot  give    its  sanction  to  anything    of  like  kind;   it 
thereby  sanctions  what  it  ought  to  abolish." 


32         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 

Comments  On  The  Foregoing. 

The  Governor  was,  no  doubt,  looking  at  the  matter 
in  good  conscience,  and  the  principle  that  the  lawmak- 
ers are  responsible  for  all  the  evils  resulting  from 
the  laws  they  make,  applies  with  equal  force,  to  the 
saloons  that  do  not  exist  by  natural  right,  but  were 
created  by  the  lawmakers  for  which  the  lawmakers  are 
responsible. 

It  is  our  aim  to  show  who  are  to  blame  for  the 
evils  and  who  are  responsible.  We  have  called  upon 
Governor  Wilson  who  says  that  the  lawmakers  are  to 
blame,  not  only  for  establishing,  but  for  not  abolishing 
them. 

We  are  glad  that  Govenor  Wilson  has  so  plainly 
expressed  the  principle  of  liability,  and  we  are  sure 
he  was  sincere  and  correct,  but  he  was  speaking  to  the 
lawmakers  in  reference  to  corporations,  and  did  not 
have  the  remotest  thought  of  the  saloon  system. 

In  justice  to  our  subject  and  to  our  readers,  we  will 
be  obliged  to  refer  to  Mr.  Wilson  elsewhere,  in  re- 
lation to  principles  laid  down  by  him,  on  other  subjects 
and  for  other  purposes.  We  shall  be  obliged  to  refer 
to  him  as  Governor,  as  politician  and  candidate  for  the 
presidency. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.  33 


CHAPTER  IV 


New  Brunswick  Ordinance. 

A  sample  ordinance  establishing  saloons,  is  found  in 
an  ordinance  "To  provide  for  the  license  and  regula- 
tion of  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  the  City  of 
New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  and  prescribing  the  form  of 
application  to  be  used;  and  to  fix  the  amount  of  fees 
to  be  paid  for  the  various  licenses  that  may  be  used, 
&c."  fo\ 

It  is  not  our  intention  to  analyze  all  of  the  sections, 
but  to  call  attention  to  some  of  the  twenty-two  sections, 
which  give  an  idea  of  what  wise  men  can  do  in  the 
way  of  regulating  the  sale  of  liquors. 

There  is  not  a  word  in  the  ordinance  that  suggests 
a  thought  of  reducing  the  quantity  or  improving  the 
quality  of  the  liquors  sold.  The  title  of  the  ordinance 
should  read  "  to  establish  saloons",  instead  of  "to  reg- 
ulate the  sale." 

The  provisions  of  this  ordinance  are  not  contrary  to 
the  laws  of  the  state,  and  may  be  said  to  cover  the 
whole  license  system,  so  far  as  establishing  saloons 
and  regulating  the  sale  of  liquors  are  concerned. 


34         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 

The  word  Intoxicate  is  from  the  root  word  toxicum, 
a  poison  used  by  barbarians  to  poison  their  arrow  tips, 

The  title  of  the  ordinance  means  to  regulate  the  sale 
of  poisonous  drinks. 

A  Business  Arrangement. 

A  person  starting  out  in  a  mercantile  business 
would  arrange  its  several  departments  in  such  a  way 
that  the  several  departments  would  be  in  harmony 
with  each  other,  and  so  that  customers  could  easily 
procure  whatever  they  wanted,  with  as  little  trouble 
as  possible.  The  customer  that  wanted  a  small  quan- 
tity of  goods  would  be  directed  to  the  retail  counter;  or 
if  he  wanted  a  larger  quantity,  the  customer  would  be 
directed  to  the  wholesale  department. 

The  New  Brunswick  ordinance  provides  for  the 
wholesale  and  the  retail  of  liquors,  but  not  in  the  same 
building.  If  a  customer  wants  less  than  a  quart,  he 
must  walk  on  the  South  side  of  the  street;  but  if  he 
wants  more  than  a  quart,  he  must  walk  on  the  North 
side.  This  puts  the  drinker  to  a  considerable  inconven- 
ience; but  it  is  a  wonderful  regulation.  If  the  two  de- 
departments  were  under  the  same  roof,  it  would  be 
more  convenient. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.          35 

It  makes  a  great  difference  in  the  effects  of  intoxi- 
eating  drinks,  on  a  man's  stomach  whether  he  drinks 
facing  the  North  or  the  South. 

There  is  no  regulation  of  the  quality.  That  would 
offend  the  brewers  and  distillers. 

The  ordinance  makes  no  mention  of  Sunday;  and  no 
action  could  be  taken  against  the  the  sale  of  liquor 
on  Sunday,  under  the  terms  of  the  ordinance. 

How   to  Make  Application. 

The  ordinancs  thoughtfully  instructs  applicants  how  to 
procure  license,  and  the  manner  of  making  application. 

The  Council  makes  it  plain  and  easy  for  the  applicant. 

The  appplicant  must  present  his  application  with  his 
own  signature,  and  the  signature  of  twelve  freeholders. 

And  attached  to  the  application  and  forming  a   part 
of  it,  shall  be  the  oath  of  the  applicant,  that  the  sign- 
ers of  the  application  are  all    freeholders,  and  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  and  that  they    have  not  signed? 
any  other  application  within  one  year. 

The  applicant  does  all  the  swearing  required,  although 
he  is  not  qualified  to  swear  what  these  men  have  or 
have  not  done.  The  applicant's  oath  gives  no  strength 
to  the  application.  What  the  applicant  is,  is  of  more 
importance  than  what  the  signers  are. 


36        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 


There  is  not  a  Judge  in  New  Jersey,  who  would, 
under  any  other  circumstances,  allow  any  one  man  who 
really  knows  nothing  whatever,  of  their  qualifications 
to  swear  for  twelve  men.  How  can  a  just  Judge  step 
so  far  from  his  ordinary  procedure,  to  allow  one  man 
to  qualify  for  twelve  men? 

The  applicant  selects  his  own  men,  and  swears  for  them; 
and  the  judge  allows  the  applicant  an  advocate;  and 
upon  the  judgment  of  the  advocate,  and  the  oath  of  the 
applicant,  the  judge  grants  the  license.  Who  is  the 
real  judge  in  the  matter? 

The  ordinance  forbids  a  saloonist  to  sell  between  the 
hours  of  twelve  midnight,  and  five  o'clock  A.  M.,  and 
the  violator  is  subject  to  a  fine  of  twenty-five  dollars. 

Another  section  forbids  all  persons  not  licensed,    to  /" 
sell  at  any  time,  under  a  fine  of  one  hundred  dollars. 

Is  it  a  greater  sin  for  a  non-licensed  man  to  sell  at 
any  time  than  for  a  licensed  man  to  sell  at  a  time  he 
is  expressly  forbidden  to  sell,  by  the  terms  of  his 
license? 

The  saloonist  is  a  non-licensed  man  at  such  times 
he  is  forbidden  to  sell;  and  in  consideration  of  his 
license  to  sell  twenty-one  of  the  twenty-four  hours,  his 
fine  for  violation,  should  be  greater  than  for  the  viola- 
tion by  an  unlicened  man.  A  specified  light  fine  in 
advance  of  violation,  is  an  inducement  to  violate. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.  37 

Why  is  there  a  difference  in  the  fines  for  the  same 
offense?  Here  are  two  reasons.  It  was  unnecessary 
for  the  city  to  forbid  the  unlicensed  man  to  sell,  for 
the  state  law  forbids  it;  but  by  making  this  offense  a 
part  of  the  ordinance,  the  fines  for  the  violations 
would  go  into  the  city  treasury  and  the  greater  the 
fine  the  better  for  the  treasury. 

Another  reason    for    the  difference  of  fines  in  favor 
of  the  saloonist,  is  that,  the  unlicensed  man  who  violates 
the  law,  is  guiltv  of  two   offenses   in  one  act. 
He  violates  the  law;  and  he  infringes  upon  the  saloonist, 
who  has  purchased  protection  and  the  City  is  bound   to 
"warrant  and  defend  againt  all  unlawful  claims",  as  the 
deeds  say.  And  still  another  reason;     the  brewers  will 
not  stand  for  high  fines  for  the  saloonist 

The  Dive. 

The  saloonist  is  forbidden  to  employ  any  female  to  vend, 
sell,  &c..  or  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  persons  to 
such  place,  or  as  women  conversationalist;  or  permit  the 
assembling  of  females  for  the  purpose  of  enticing 
customers,  or  making  assignations  for  improper  purposes. 
Did  the  Council  think  that  the  "Appointees  of  the 
Court"  need  such  restraint? 


38  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 

The  foregoing  is  correctly  quoted  from  the  ordinance, 
and  it  shows  how  intimately  the  saloon  is  connected 
with  social  vice.  What  a  comment  on  the  character  of 
the  saloon  established  by  this  ordinance  for  the 
good  of  New  Brunswick!  Is  there  any  other  institu- 
tion in  New  Brunswick  from  which  females  are 
excluded?  These  wise  city  fathers  know  very  well  the 
class  of  people  who  frequent  the  saloon  and  they  also 
know  what  effect  alcoholic  drinks  has  on  the  passions  of 
men  and  women,  and  that  the  saloon  degrades  all  who 
come  in  contact  with  it. 

The  ordinance  plainly  specifies  the  purposes  for  which 
females  shall  not  be  employed;  but  there  is  nothing  to 
prevent  females  from  entering  a  saloon  to  buy  beer, 
and  when  there  she  may  remain  as  long  as  she  will 
'and  for  any  purpose  she  please;  but  the  saloonist 
must  not  employ  her  for  the  purposes  forbidden. 

This  is  a  great  advantage  to  the  saloonist,  as  he 
may  have  females  present  without  the  expense  of 
\  employing  her.  The  Mayor  and  Council  have  how- 
ever, acknowledged  the  close  relation  of  the  saloon  and 
vice,  and  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  eliminate 
the  evil.  If  the  ordinance  had  forbidden  saloonists  to 
permit  females  to  enter  the  saloon  for  any  purpose, 
it  would  have  shown  sincerity  of  purpose. 
All  evils  are  in  the  saloon,  and  in  the  saloon  may  be 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.  39 

be  found  the  greatest  cause  of  the  social  evil. 

When  a  saloon  becomes  a  'dive'  it  is  only  an  erup- 
tion on  the  outside  and  shows  what  is  within  the  sys- 
tem. 

Care  for  Future  Generations. 


The  ordinance  says  "until  the  population  shall  reach 
thirty-five  thousands,  there  shall  be  no  more  than 
eighty-two  saloons."  According  to  this  allowance,  there 
will  be  one  saloon  to  every  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  persons.  If  one  half  of  this  number  are  children, 
and  one  half  of  the  adults  are  women,  and  one  half 
of  the  male  adults  are  non-drinkers;  there  will  be  one 
saloon  to  fifty-three  drinkers 

This  is  very  liberal  of  our  city  fathers  to  provide 
so  bountifully  and  so  far  in  the  future. 
At  the  past  rate  of  increase,  it  will  be  a  long  time  be- 
fore the  city  will  reach  thirty-five  thousands,  and  it 
is  evident  that  the  present  rising  generation  must 
be  the  victims  of  the  saloons  at  that  time. 

This  ordinance  shows  that  the  City  of  New  Brunswick 
intends  to  perpetuate  the  saloon,  and  consign  little 
babes,  now  in  mothers'  arms,  to  the  brewers'  greed. 


40  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 

I  once  knew  a  farmer  who  made  it  a  practice  of 
raising  and  selling  a  five-year  old  colt  each  year.  To 
do  this  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  have  five  colts  in 
line  all  the  time:  one,  four  years  old;  one,  three  years 
old;  one,  two  years  old;  one,  one  year  old,  and  a 
-  new-born  colt. 

ited  that  one   of    every  five   male  child- 


drunkard.    Allowing    the    life    of  the 
~~  - 
drunkard  to  be  forty  years,  if  one  drops  out  at  the  age 

of  forty,  there  must  be  thirty-nine  persons  in  line  all 
the  time  to  keep  the  line  full;  and  when  number  forty 
drops  out,  all  move  up  one  place  and  a  new-born  babe 
takes  its  place  in  line  as  number  one. 

Statistics  show  that  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand drunkards  die  each  year.  To  keep  this  line  full 
there  must  be  over  six  millions  in  line  all  headed  for 
the  drunkard's  grave:  But,  the  Government  needs  the 
revenue,  the  lawmakers  need  the  brewers'  support  and 
the  brewers  need  the  money;  so  why  hesitate  to  sac- 
rifice the  lives  and  souls  of  six  millions? 

And  why  should  we  give  a  single  thought  to  the 
misery  and  suffering  caused  by  the  saloons,  so  long  as 
the  lawmakers  and  the  brewers  and  the  Government 
profit  by  the  traffic?  The  Government  makes  revenue, 
the  lawmaker  get  politcal  support,  and  the  brewers 
and  saloonists  make  money  out  of  the  traffic  and  the 
victims  get  nothng  but  evil. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.  41 


Procedure  In  Cases  of  Violation. 

Once  more  referring  to  sections  fourteen  and  nine- 
teen, of  the  the  New  Brunswick  ordinance,  we  find  that 
section  fourteen,  reads  as  follows:  "all  complainst  for 
the  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  ordinance  shall 
be  made  before  the  Recorder  of  the  city,  and  the  pen- 
alty arising  under  the  ordinance  MAY  be  recovered 
before  such  Recorder,  in  the  manner  provided  by  law, 
and  the  fines,  WHEN  COLLECTED,  shall  be  paid  into 
the  city  treasury." 

This  section  and  the  procedure  relate  to  licensed 
men. 

Section  nineteen  relates  to  non-licensed  men  and  reads 
as  follows:  Any  person  violating  any  provision  of  this 
law,SHALL  BE  DEEMED  guilty  of  MISDEMEANOR, 
and  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  one  hundred  dollars, 
or  IMPRISONMENT  for  a  term  of  three  months. 

The  choice  of  words  and  the  difference  in  the  terms 
of  punishment  in  these  two  sections,  show  a  decided 
partiality  in  favor  of  the  licensed  man. 

To  the  licensed  man  it  speaks  kindly,  and  says:  watch 
out,  boys;  for  if  some  one  whose  duty  it  is  not,  com- 
plains of  you,  you  MAY  be  fined  twenty-five  dollars. 

To  the  non-licensed  man:  it  says  you  shall  be  fined  one 
hundred  dollars,  or  be  imprisoned  for  three  months. 


42         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 

This  detection  of  the  violation  of  the  law  by  the 
saloonist;  is  left  to  volunteers  who  dare  not  be  so  rash 
as  to  make  complaint;  but  every  officer  in  the  city  is  on 
the  look-out  for  violations  by  persons  who  have  no  li- 
cense. 

To  show  the  insincerity  of  the  lawmaker  of  their  in- 
tention to  punish  saloon  keepers  for  violation  of  the  law, 
we  quote  from  a  correspondent  to  the  New  Brunswick 
Daily  Home  News:  Dear  Editor;  Will  you  kindly  publish 
this  item  in  your  valuable  paper?  Why  is  it  that  a 
certain  saloon-keeper  in  the  sixth  ward,  not  far  from 
No.  6  engine  house  is  allowed  to  keep  his  place  open 
from  six  A.  M.  until  three  o'clock  the  following  morn- 
ing; closing  for  about  three  hours  of  the  twenty-four? 

And  even  then,  those  that  are  inside  do  not  have  to 
leave,  but  are  allowed  to  sleep  in  a  department  over 
the  saloon,  kept  for  those  who  would  rather  sleep  there 
than  to  lose  time  by  walking  home.  A  person  can  go 
there  Sundays  and  be  accommodated,  the  same  as  on 
week  days,  during  the  day  or  night.  Something  should 
be  done  to  stop  this  kind  of  business.  Of  course,  the 
sixth  ward  politicians  do  not  like  to  interfere,  as  it 
might  make  it  bad  for  them.  Young  men  and  marri- 
ed men  with  families,  spend  their  time  here. 

Signed: 

A  Reader  of  The  Home  News. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.  43 


Here  is  a  brave  correspondent,  in  a  public  manner 
points  out  the  saloon  that  is  daily  violating  the  law,  and 
the  DAILY  HOME  NEWS  dutifully  finds  space  in  its 
valuable  columns  to  publish  the  same;  and  the  Mayor 
and  Council  are  waiting  for  some  volunteer  to  make 
complaint.  No  one  having  authority  will  make  a 
complaint  and  the  police  officers  dare  not;  and  the 
politicians  will  mt;  and  tb2  saloon  continues  to  \i:>late. 
the  law.  "Watch  out,  boys,  or  you  MAY  be  fined".  ^\^ 

The  saloonists  know  what  the  laws  mean,  and  they 
have  as  much  contempt  for  the  laws  as  they  have  for 
lawmakers  who  enact  them.  All  honor  to  those  who 
make  laws  that  they  dare  not  enforce. 

Light  fines  and  the  uncertainty  of  any  fine  for  the 
violation  of  the  law  by  the  saloonist;  and  the  heavy 
fines  and  the  cartainty  of  punishment  for  the  violation 
of  the  law  by  a  non-licensed  man;  all  work  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  brewers 

Violations. 

Before  closing  this  subject  we  wish  to  call  attention 
to  a  section  of  the  ordinance    which  is  violated  every 
day.    This  section  says  that  any  person  not  holding  a  A\     / 
license,  who  shall,  by  himself  or  his  agent,  at  any  time, 
sell,  furnish,  supply,  or  offer  &c.,  shall  be  fined  &c..       A 


44         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


"A"  goes  into  a  saloon  and  finds  "B"  with  no  money. 
"A"  orders  drinks  for  two,  and  gives  one  glass  to  "B"; 
and  "A"  has  furnished  and  supplied  "B",  and  has  vio- 
lated the  law.  The  bartender  had  no  part  in  the  trans- 
action except  to  supply  "A." 

Again:  if  "C"  and  "D"  go  into  a  saloon,  "C"  treats 
"D",  he  has  violated  the  law  in  supplying  liquors,  not 
having  a  Iic3ns3.  "C"  may  claim  that  if  ''D"  treats  in 
turn,  as  in  courtesy,  he  is  bound  to  do,  it  is  the  same  as  if 
each  paid  for  his  own  drink;  but  in  that  case,  both 
would  be  guilty,  for  each  one  would  pay  for  the  drink 
that  he  received  of  the  other;  and  if  one  paid  the  other, 
he  paid  for  what  he  bought;  and  if  one  bought,  the 
other  sold. 

The  one  who  treats  the  other  might  claim  that  he 
only  ordered  the  drinks  and  paid  for  them,  and  the 
bartender  handed  the  glass  to  the  other.  Still,  he  who 
ordered  the  drinks  would  be  guilty,  for  he  has  suppli- 
ed through  his  agent,  the  bartender,  which  is  forbidden. 

Let  us  see  what  the  bartender  says  on  this  point. 
John  Doe  leads  a  little  boy  into  a  saloon  and  orders  two 
glasses  of  beer,  one  of  which  he  gives  to  the  boy.  An 
officer  comes  in  and  arrests  the  bartender  for  selling  to 
a  minor.  The  bartender  defends  himself  by  proving 
that  he  sold  two  glasses  to  the  man,  and  the  man  gave 
one  glass  to  the  boy. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.  45 


So  far  as  buying  and  supplying  is  concerned,  it  is 
the  same  with  the  boy  as  with  the  man. 

It  is  plainly  seen  that  "treating"  is  a  violation  of  law. 

We  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  that  the  ordi- 
nance of  New  Brunswick  is  worse  than  that  of  other 
cities;  but  we  are  considering  the  subject  of  liquor  sell- 
ing and  the  laws  which  regulate  their  sale,  and  are 
illustrating  by  events,  with  which  we  are  familiar. 

If  our  readers  will  substitute  the  name  of  their  own 
town  or  city  for  ''New  Brunswick"  they  will  find  that 
what  we  have  said  of  this  city,  will  apply  to  their  own 
town,  for  the  brewers  are  in  command  everywhere. 


46         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


CHAPTER  V 


A  Cat  License 

A  writer  in  an  article  printed  in  a^gwYork  paper 
a  few  days  ago,  suggested  that  there  should  be  a  la\ 
that  no  cne  should  keep  a  cat  without  paying  license  fee, 
giving  as  a  reason  for  such  a  law,  that  cats  endanger 
the  health  and  comfort  of  people,  and  that  their  bite  is 
sometimes  fatal. 

The  principle  of  taxing  the  owners  of  cats  and  dogs 
is  not  a  new  idea,  but  it  has  been  applied  to  dogs  only. 

The  object  of  the  proposed  tax  on  cats,  is  to  decrease 
the  number  of  cats  to  threaten  the  health  and  life  of 
people;  and  very  many  persons  who  now  keep  two  or 
more,  cats,  would  not  keep  any  if  they  were  obliged  to 
pay  a  license  fee.  No  doubt  that  such  a  law,  if  strictly 
enforced,  would  reduce  the  number  of  cats,  but  if  un- 
enforced  the  law  would  do  no  good.  The  bite  of  a 
licensed  cat  would  be  as  fatal  as  the  bite  of  an  unlicensed 
cat;  and  the  effects  of  the  law  would  be  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  cats,  the  less  the  number  of  cats 
the  less  the  number  of  bites. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  47 


A  law  of  this  kind  would,  like  many  others,  favor 
the  rich,  who  could  indulge  in  the  luxuries  of  cats, 
while  the  poor  man  who  is  unable  to  pay  the  license 
fee,  must  be  deprived  of  his  pets,  and  take  the  chances 
of  being  bitten  by  the  licensed  cats  of  the  rich  man. 

It  is  true  that  there  are  cats,  and  if  it  be  true  that 
cats  endanger  the  health  and  life  of  people,  then  no 
one  should  keep  a  cat  by  special  license. 

The  logic  of  a  cat  license,  expressed  plainly  is  as 
follows:  Mr.  Cat,  your  habits  and  your  quarrelsome 
disposition  and  uumusical  voice  are  injurious  to  human 
beings,  and  destructive  to  comfort,  and  your  bite  is 
sometimes  fatal;  but,  for  a  small  fee,  for  the  privilege, 
you  may  indulge  in  anything  natural  to  cats,  and  this 
license  shall  be  your  justification. 

I  am  aware  that  the  foregoing  is  nonsensical,  but 
we  give  the  honor  of  originality  to  the  lawmakers  who 
license  saloons  that  destroy  all  who  come  in  contact  with 
them. 

\W   , 
hf 


48         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT, 
CHAPTER  VI 


Local  Events 

In  the  case  of  D.  C.  Whalen's  application,  that 
we  have  elsewhere  referred  to,  the  Judge  ignored  the 
eighty-one  remonstrants  against  granting  the  license. 

We  read  in  The  Daily  Home  News  of  Dec.  20,  1912, 
that  the  Judge  granted  a  license  to  Thomas  P.  Doyle 
because  the  application  was  signed  by  a  majority  of  the 
township  committee  of  Pisataway,  and  other  prominent 
residents.  The  prominent  residents  had  great  weight 
in  this  case,  it  was  for  a  license,  but  when  they  are  a- 
gainst  a  license,  it  is  quite  a  di  ferent  matter. 

Another    news    item    in    the  samp  paper  says  that 
Thomas  H.  Haggerty  presented  the   application. 

In  own  opinion,  the  Judge  has  no  right  to  allow 
an  advocate  for  the  applicant,  as  he  is  not  on  trial 
for  crime,  and  has  no  rights  to  defend,  but  is  simply 
asking  tor  privileges,  and  the  only  function  of  the  advo- 
cate, is  to  influence  the  Judge,  and  he  ought  not  to 
allow  himself  to  be  influenced  at  the  expense  of  his  judg- 
ment. In  this  case  the  Judge  listened  to  the  advocacy 
of  Mr.  Haggerty  and  granted  a  license,  for  the  reason 
that  it  "appeared  to  be  a  public  necessity."  > 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  49 


Notice  the  truth  of  what  we  have  said,  that  the  judge 
and  the  township  committee  pull  together  and  all  pull 
with  the  brewers.  We  also  find  on  the  same  day,  a  li- 
cense was  granted  to  Daniel  Me  Donald  at  Port  Read- 
ing, in  the  township  of  Woodbridge.  fT^ 

The  news  item  says  that  here-to-fore  Judge  Daily  had 
refused  to  grant  any  more  licenses  in  the  the  township 
of  Woodbridge;  but  when  lawyer  Coan,  as  advocate, 
argued  that,  granting  a  license  in  the  place  of  the  one 
saloon  that  had  been  closed  up  by  the  prosecutor, 
would  not  really  be  an  increase.  The  judge  said  that  he 
had  received  a  petition  numerously  signed  and  among  the 
petitioners,  was  a  majority  of  the  township  cnmmittee. 

Here  we  have  the  judge,  the  petitioners,  the  applicant, 
the  advocate  and  the  township  committee  as  usual. 

The  Judge  had  decided  that  no  more  licenses  should 
be  granted  in  this  township;  the  advocate  convinced 
him  that  if  one  be  taken  from  a  given  numbar  and  then 
one  be  added,  the  result  will  be  the  original  number. 
In  these  two  cases,  the  principal  elements  were  the 
advocate  and  the  township  committee. 

So  we  see  the  brewers  have  both  ends  of  the  line, 
from  the  lawmakers  down  to  the  township  committee; 
and  an  advocate  to  dictate  to  the  Judge  what  he  ought 
to  know,  himself,  The  applicant  knows  the  advantage 
of  an  advocate  or  he  would  not  hire  him. 


50         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 


The  Application 

The  law  requires  signers  to  an  application,  all  of  whom 
mast  be  freeholders,  they  need  not  be  intelligent,  but 
must  be  freeholders,  to  vouch  for  the  character  of  the 
applicant  and  for  the  necessity  for  a  saloon  to  promote 
the  best  interests  of  t!i3  co.nmunity,  financially  and  mor- 
ally; noncibut  a  freeholder  is  qualified  to  j-iJge  in  this 
matter.  These  arc  the  ostensible  reasons  for  having 
the  signers;  the  true  reason  is  to  justify  the  conscience 
of  the  lawmakers  who  do  not  kno;v  whether  a  saloon 
is  a  g  )od  institution  or  not;  and  to  satisfy  the  judge  who 
licenses,  that  it  is  a  public  necessity.  It  would  be  better 
to  ask  such  men  as  Charles  W.  Eliot,  president  emeritus 
of  Harvard,  who  says  "alcoholism  of  the  white  race 
mast  be  overcome  or  thaJL^ics  will  ovei-com^jhe  race."x 

Tn;  U.v.ivikers,    in  thsir    pro'crnd  wisdom,    t'link    it 
batter  to  ask  a  man  who  owns  an  acre  of  salt  meadow. 
We  have  ia  mind  a  case  where  a  judge  in  Middlesex 
1   County,  N.  J.  refused  a  license  to  a  party  in  Jamesburg, 
\ani  t'.ie  naxt  day  granted  one  to  a  party  in  Roosevelt. 
Both  of  these  parties  had  the  required  number  of  sign-* 
ers  to  the  application,  and,  that  the  Judge  granted  one 
and  refused   the  other    shows  that  the  Judge    has    the 
right  to  refuse.     The  reason   given  for  refusing  the  one, 
was,  "it  would  cause  cut-throat  competition" 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


51 


which  means  that  it  would  not  be  good  for  the  saloons 
already  there,  This  is  in  accordance  with  the  original 
contract  to  ''foster  and  encourage  the  beer  business," 
and  to  ''warrant  and  defend  against  all  unlawful  claims," 
as  the  deeds  say. 

The  judge's  action  in  these  two  cases  siows  what 
we  have  tried  to  establish:  that  the  Jadge  has  the 
right  to  grant  or  to  refuse  to  grant  licenses;  and  that  he 
looks  after  the  welfare  of  saloonists;  and  tha.t  the  required 
signers  to  an  application  is  a  farce,  and  does  not  in 
any  way  affect  the  number  of  licenses  granted. 

If  the  lawmakers  were  sincere  in  their  efforts  to  reg- 
ulate the  sale  of  alcoholic  drinks,  they  would  require 
that  an  application  for  a  license  should  be  signed  by  a 
majority  of  the  persons  interested,  to  express  their  o- 
pinion  in  regard  to  tli2  desirability  o;  a  saloon;  or,  if 
being  a  freeholder  is  qualification,  all  freeholders  should 
be  required  to  express  their  opinion,  and  show  to  what 
extent  they  are  freeholders.  But,  in  a  matter  of  right 
and  wrong,  money  or  land  or  any  other  kind  of  prop- 
erty qualification  ought  not  to  decide. 

If  the  signers,  as  the  law  now  is,  are  supposed,  in  any 
way,  to  vouch  for  the  good  character  of  the  applicant, 
the  signers  themselves,  should  have  good  characters. 
And  certainly  no  one  who  has  the  habit  of  drinking 
should  be  qualified  to  sign  an  applicaton  for  license. 


52          THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 


Remonstrance 

The  law  provides  that  any  person  or  a  number  of 
persons  have  the  right  to  remonstrate  against  the  grant- 
ing of  a  license;  and  the  people  are  made  to  believe 
that  their  remonstrance  will  receive  respectful  consid- 
eration when  presented  to  the  Judge.  This  remon- 
strance feature  of  the  law  is  a  farce,  for,  neither  the 
numbsr  nor  the  character  of  the  remonstrants,  are  tak- 


en into  consideration  by  the  Judge,  and  he  will  po- 
litely inform  the  remonstrants  that  he  has  no  discre- 
tionary power,  yet  he  sometimes  refuses  to  grant  a  li- 
cense, as  in  the  case  of  Jamesburg,  where  it  was 
necessary  to  refuse  one,  to  protect  the  other  against 
"cut-throat  competition." 

Insincerity  and  indifference  manifested  in  the  laws 
are  in  like  manner,  manifested  in  the  execution  of  the 
laws. 

We  have  always  regarded  a  judge  as  a  person,  learned 
in  the  law,  and  of  good  judgment,  whom  the  law  pro- 
vides to  decide  all  questions  of  law  and  equity,  according 
to  his  best  judgment,  and  in  accordance  with  the  Con- 
stitution which  grants  equal  rights  to  all  individuals. 

We  should  be  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  form  our  opin- 
ion of  a  Judge  by  his  procedure  in  considering  licenses. 

No  doubt  he  does  violence  to    his  own  feelings    and 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  53 


his  judgment    in    his  efforts  to  act  in  accordance  with 
what  is  expected  of  him   by  the  lawmakers  and  brewers. 

It  is  generally  supposed  that,  if  the  judge  is  in  doubt 
on  any  question  of  law  or  fact,  he  will  make  use  of 
the  best  means  at  his  command  to  inform  himself,  but 
this  is  overlooked  in  granting  licenses. 

This  important  matter  of  the  necessity  of  saloons  is 
left  to  the  saloonist  and  a  few  of  his  patrons.  This  is 
shameful,  the  people  should  be  ashamed  to  submit  to  it. 

The  laws  may  as  well  leave  the  question  of  maintain- 
ing dives,  to  the  dive-keeper  and  a  very  few  of  his 
patrons. 

The  judge  knows  that  there  never  was  a  saloon  on 
earth  that  was  a  benefit  to  any  community;  and  he  knows 
there  never  was  a  man  who  was  benefited  by  becoming 
a  drunkard.  He  also  knows  that  there  never  was  a 
father  glad  to  have  his  son  patronize  the  saloon,  or 
that  his  son  was  forming  drinking  habits.  We  can  not 
expect  the  judge  who  grants  licenses,  to  confess  that 
a  saloon  is  a  thing  of  evil,  for  he  would  thereby,  con- 
fess his  guilt  in  licensing  a  thing  of  evil.  And  if  he 
>?  I  knows  that  the  saloon  is  an  evil,  and  licenses  it,  how 

fr. 

*  J  can  we  have  implicit  confidence  in  his  fairness  as  a  just 
\fr  Si  judge;  or,  if    he    does    not    know    that    the    saloon  is 
•  an  evil,  how  can  we   have    perfect  confidence    in   his 
judgment  on  other  matters  of  right  and  wrong? 


54         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 


The  state  should  furnish  the  Judge  with  some  statis- 
tics to  guide  him  in  determining  when  and  where  and 
in  what  way  a  saloon  is  a  benefit  to  a  community,  so 
that  he  need  not  depend  upon  the  judgment  of  men  who 
favor  and  patronize  the  saloon.  But  the  Judge  might 
with  a  very  little  trouble,  inform  himself  if  he  felt  so 
inclined.  If  he  should  act  according  to  the  dictates  of 
his  own  heart  and  his  own  judgment,  he  would  dis- 
please the  brewers,  and  they  would  stir  up  the  poli- 
ticians and  lawmakers,  and  they  in  turn  would  make  it 
uncomfortable  for  the  judge.  The  only  thing  for  him 
to  do  is  to  exercise  his  functions  according  to  the  spirit 
and  the  intent  of  the  law  and  place  the  blame  on  the 
lawmakers,  as  we  do. 

We  venture  to  say  that  if  the  lawmakers,  when  mak- 
ing laws  relating  to  the  saloon  business,  were  sincere, 
and  the  executive  officers,  chief  and  subordinate,  were 
sincere  in  enforcing  them,  and  leave  the  Judge  to  act 
according  to  his  own  good  judgment,  there  would  be  no 
cause  to  complain.  If,  for  any  reason,  the  judge  is  by 
his  understanding  of  what  is  expected  of  him;  or  if  his 
procedure  is  in  any  way  deflected  from  his  own  sense 
of  right:  or  if  the  laws  are  so  loose  that  they  require 
a  loose  application,  then  the  lawmakers  are  to  blame, 
and  the  Judge  deserves  sympathy,  and  the  lawmakers 
deserve  censure. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  55 


The  Judge,  left  to  himself,  would  act  upon  an  appli- 
cation for  a  license  in  the  same  manner  as  he  would 
act  in  a  trial  case,  where  his  decision  depended  upon 
the  evidence  that  might  be  presented;  and  that  which 
he  accepted  as  evidence  on  one  side  would  be  accepted 
on  the  other,  and  the  decision  rendered  according  to 
the  weight  of  evidence.  And  if  certain  qualifications 
of  witnssses  entitled  one  to  testify,  the  same  qualifica- 
tions should  entitle  others  to  testify. 

If  importance  is  given  the  applicant's  signers,  bscause 
of  their  being  freeholders,  the  same  importance  should 
be  given  to  remonstrants. 

In  the  Metuchen  Recorder  of  Dacembsr  18,  19D3, 
we  find  the  following:  "In  Saptenbsr  the  app  ication  of 
D.  C.  Whalen  had  an  insufficient  numbar  of  signers 
qualified,  and  judge  Lyon  permitted  him  to  withdraw  it 
until  the  Dscember  term  of  court,  and  on  Tuesday  he 
filed  it  again  with  other  names,  when  there  was  a  re- 
monstrance against  granting  it  signed  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  our  citizens."  In  the  three  m^.iths  between  the 
first  and  second  efforts,  Whalen  secured  thirty-one  sign- 
ers, which  included  his  father  and  brother,  and  five 
person  not  living  in  the  Borough.  There  were  eighty 
remonstrants,  all  of  good  character,  and  of  all  occupa- 
tions, and  all  freeholders  with  a  combined  property  valua- 
tion thirty  time  that  of  the  signers  of  the  application. 


56         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 


It  is  needless  to  say  that  Whalen  got  his  license. 
The  thirty  signers  out-weighed  the  eighty  remonstrants. 
This  is  a  shameful  farce  and  an  insult  to  the  remon- 
strants. In  connection  with  this,  let  us  give  some  of 
the  fruits  of  the  four  saloons  in  Metuchen,  one  of  which 
is  Whalen's  above  referred  to. 

In  the  last  few  years  TWENTY-FOUR  deaths  caused 
directly  by  the  four  saloons;  and  most  of  these  victims, 
,  young    men.    Metuchen's  population    is  less   than  three 
( thousand.    At  the  present  time  we  have  two  young  men 
in  the  asylum,  hopelessly  insane;  one  in  prison  at  Tren-ton 
sentenced  to  electrocution  for  the   murder  of  a  minister; 
6f    the  Gospel.     A  short  time    ago  two  others  died  of 
insanity.  Others  have    been  killed  by  accident,    and  still 
others  who  have  died  suddenly  from  excessive  drinking. 
These  are  seme  of  the  fruits  of    the  saloons    of  Me- 
tuchen that  were  established  for  the  good  of  the  Boro- 
ugh. 

As  the  Judge  stands  at  the  point  in  the  license  sys- 
tem where  the  lawmakers  left  off,  leaving  him  with  so 
much  discretionary  power,  we  are  compelled  to  give  to 
him  more  attention  than  we  otherwise  would.  It  is  at 
this  point  that  the  destructive  work  begins  and  agents 
are  appointed  to  do  the  work.  The  Judge's  responsibility 
is  in  proportion  to  his  discretionary  power  and  he  is 
responsible  for  the  evils  that  he  might  prevent. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  57 


Jf  the  judge  was  anxious  to  know  for  a  certain- 
ty whether  a  saloon  would  be  beneficial  to  a  community, 
qr  not,  he  should  ask  the  applicant,  and  each  of  his 
signers,  a  few  questions  like  the  following: 

Did  you  sign  this  petitition? 

Do  you  think  a  saloon  would  benefit  your  town? 

If  so,  in  what  way? 

Do  you  think  a  saloon  would  benefit  you? 

In  what  way  would  it  benefit  you? 

Would  you  wish  your  son  to  patronize  it? 

Name  one  who  has  been  benefited  by  it 

Will  a  saloon  add  value  to  your  property? 

Do  you  know  any   one  who    has  been  harmed  by 

the  saloon? 

Are  you  a  patron  of  the  saloon? 

Are  you  related  the  applicant? 

How  are  you  related? 

If  the  judge  would  ask  questions  like  these  and 
insist  upon  answers,  prompt  and  full,  signers  would  ask 
to  have  their  names,  taken  from  the  list;  or  if  he  would 
ask  himself  such  questions,  and  answer  them,  he 
would  grant  no  license.  The  only  questions  that 
have  been  asked,  and  the  only  matters  that  have  been 
considered  are,  how  many  are  there  now,  and  can 
another  one  be  made  to  pay?  If  the  way  is  clear, 
there  seem  to  be  a  public  necessity  for  a  saloon. 


58 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 


There  came  under  my  observation  a  case  where  an 
injured  man  sued  his  employer  for  damages,  claiming 
that  the  the  concrete  foundation  of  the  machine  upon 
which  he  worked,  was  too  light  for  the  weight  of  the 
machine;  and  this  defect  caused  much  vibration,  and 
in  consequence  of  the  vibration  he  was  injured. 

A  common  laborer  was  called  upon  to  testify  as  to 
the  sufficiency  of  the  foundation.  The  defence  objected 
to  the  witness,  as  not  being  a  mason  or  a  machinist, 
and  not  knowing  the  weight  of  either  the  foundation 
or  the  machine,  he  was  not  qualified  as  an  expert. 
The  witness  was  not  allowed  to  testify. 

But,  in    the  matter    of  licenses,  it  is  quite  different. 

If  the  Judge  is  not  influenced  by  the  signers,  there 
is  no  need  of  them;  but  if  he  is  influenced  by  them 
his  decision  is  based  on  opinion  and  not  on  fact;  as 
the  signers  are  not  experts.  We  venture  to  say  that 


if  his  decision  was  subject  to  an  appeal  to  a  Higher 
Court,  where  the  character  of  witnesses  is  taken  into 
account  and  testimony  is  weighed  in  the  scales  of  Just- 
ice, he  would  not,  in  a  case  of  such  importance  between 
a  community  and  a  saloonist,  submit  the  matter  to  a 
jury  selected  by  the  saloonist.  The  community  stands 
no  chance,  especially  when  the  County  Prosecutor  ad- 
vocates the  applicant's  cause,  as  is  sometimes  the  case. 
A  remonstrance,  if  very  large,  is  of  no  account 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.  59 

for  the  question  is  between  the  brewers,  and  a  larger 
number  of  the  people,  and  the  brewers  must  not  be 
beaten  by  a  large  number  of  the  people. 

The  brewers  are  back  of  all  the  saloons  and  the  re- 
fusal to  grant  a  license,  hurts  the  brewer  more  than  it 
hurts  the  would-be-saloonist. 

As  it  is  in  East  Orange 

'  We  quote  from  the  New  York  Tribune,  of  October 
26  1906:  "Excise  laws  not  meant  for  all." 

"According  to  the  statement  of  Chief  of  Police  Bell, 
of  East  Orange,  the  Board  of  Excise  of  that  city  was 
not  altogether  sincere  when  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board 
Oct.  26,  it  passed  a  resolution  to  abolish  growler  rush- 
ing in  the  city.  It  has  been  asserted  that  this  move  on 
the  part  or  the  board  aroused  the  resentment  of  the 
saloon  keepers,  who  at  once  became  active. 
Chief  Bell  admitted  to  a  news  reporter  last  night  that 
the  rule  was  only  being  enforced  against  certain  persons 
and  that  he  had  been  instructed  to  interpret  it  in  that 
manner,  by  the  board  of  excise,  The  written  instructions 
of  the  board  were  as  follows:  You  should  notify  all  sa- 
loon keepers  and  proprietors  of  inns  and  taverns,  that 
the  sale  of  liquors  or  beer  not  to  be  drank  on  the  prem- 
ises be  stopped,  as  it  is  in  violation  of  law." 


60          THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


''Bell  declared  he  had  not  had  time  to  notify  all  the 
saloon  keepers  of  the  rule.  It  was  not  to  be  enforced 
against  respectable  people,  such  as  mechanics  and  fami- 
lies." "The  only  intention  was  to  break  up  growler 
parties  that  collect  on  vacant  lots  and  rush  the  can". 

The  board  of  excise  was  to  enforcs  the  rule  to  the 
letter,  but  so  many  liquor  dealers  protested,  that  itv.as 
felt  "higher  up,"  and  the  board  thought  that  AT  THIS 
TIME  of  the  year,  it  would  be  inadvisable  to  apply 
the  regulation  to  the  full  extent.  East  Orange  is  near 
Newark,  which  is  noted  for  its  breweries. 

This  quotation  is  important,  as  it  opens  the  door  to 
the  chamber  of  secrets,  and  gives  an  insight  of  what 
was  intended  for  "higher  ups." 

It  was  the  intention  of  the  board  of  excise  to  put  up 
a  show  to  the  public,  of  doing  something  to  check  the 
saloon  evils,  and  at  the  same  time,  injure  the  brewers 
as  little  as  possible;  so  the  board  made  the  regulations, 
which  went  on  record  for  the  public  eye;  but  modified 
the  regulation  by  exceptions  given  to  Chief  Bell,  so  that 
the  regulation  applied  only  to  those  who  had  no  homes, 
and  were  obliged  to  drink  out  doors.  Even  this  did 
not  please  the  brewers;  and  the  board  thought  it  "inad- 
visable at  this  time  of  the  year  to  enforce  the  rules. 

This  was  October  26th.,  and  ELECTION  was  only  a 
few  days  away.  Comment  is  unnecessary. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.  61 


The  Arbiter 

An  article  in  The  Home  News  of  September  5;  1913, 
says  "Judge  Daily,  this  morning  granted  the  applica- 
tions of  Black  Horse  Hotel  and  the  Red  Lion  Tavern, 
in  North  Brunswick  township,  saying  that  while  ordina- 
rily only  one  license  should  be  granted  in  a  township, 
it  would  be  a  hardship  to  give  to  one  and  not  to  the 
other  in  this  case/'  The  licenses  were  granted  on  con- 
dition that  the  proprietors  would  divide  the  territory 
aud  not  compete  for  business.  If  either  violates  this 
he  will  lose  both  wholesale  and  retail  licenses." 

In  the  division  of  territory  between  the  hotel  and  the 
tavern,  and  the  prohibition  of  competition,  so  that  the 
two  shall  have  equal  chances,  the  Judge  has  acted  as 
arbiter;  a  part  not  provided  for  in  the  license  system, 
and  shows  very  plainly  that  the  Judge  is  looking  after 
the  interests  of  the  saloonists.  Usually,  the  Judge  grants 
a  license  if  in  his  best  judgment,  a  license  would  be  for 
the  good  of  the  place  where  the  license  is  to  be  effect- 
ive; but  in  this  case,  as  in  many  others,  the  welfare  of 
the  bee*;  dealers  only,  is  considered. 


62          THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


It  would  be  much  better  if  the  Judge  would  grant 
the  licenses  and  allow  the  holders  of  the  licenses  to 
look  after  their  own  business. 

It  is  too  much  for  one  man,  to  act  as  license  com- 
missioner, and  post  himself  as  to  the  necessities  of  the 
saloon,  so  that  he  need  not  depend  upon  twelve  men 
selected  by  the  applicant;  to  act  in  criminal  cases  that 
are  caused  by  the  saloons;  and,  attend  the  civil 
cases  that  come  before  him;  and  at  the  same  time, 
act  as  arbiter  for  rival  beer  dealers. 

A  retail  license  issued  under  the  state  laws  cannot  be 
revoked,  unless  the  holder  of  the  license  violates  its 
terms.  If  in  granting  bottling  licenses  to  those  two 
parties,  he  threatened  to  cancel  the  bottling  license,  if 
its  terms  were  violated,  he  might  be  within  his  rights; 
but  to  cancel  a  retail  license  for  the  violation  of  a  bot- 
tling license,  is  beyond  a  layman's  comprehension. 

If  the  Judge  has  the  right  to  cancel  a  license  when 
any  of  its  terms  are  violated,  and  if  he  would  be 
justified  in  canceling  a  license  in  case  of  the  violation 
of  any  of  the  terms  made  by  himself,  he  also  has 
the  right  to  cancel  a  retail  license  the  term  of  which  have 
been  violated. 

In  assuming  such  unlimited  authority,  the  Judge  makes 
himself  responsible  for  the  evils  of  the  traffic  in  pro- 
portion to  his  authority. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.  63 


The  Judge  said  that  ordinarily  only  one  bottling  li- 
cense should  be  granted  in  a  township,  but  it  would  be 
a  hardship  to  grant  to  one  and  not  to  the  other.  If 
words  mean  anything,  and  if  ordinarily  there  should  be 
only  ONE  license  granted  the  extrordinary  circumstance 
under  which  TWO  were  granted,  was  the  welfare  of 
one  of  these  two  men.  No  thought  of  the  rest  of  the 
people  of  North  Brunswick. 

We  think  the  Judge  should  not  have  granted  two 
licenses  on  the  grounds  he  gave;  but  it  proves  what  we 
have  tried  to  show;  that  the  power  given  to  him,  to 
grant  licenses  under  certain  circumstances,  means  that 
he  must  look  out  for  the  interests  of  saloonists. 

If  the  Judge  had  not  granted  either  bottling  license, 
the  two  men  would  have  had  equal  chances,  but  the 
brewers  would  not  sell  quite  as  much  beer. 

In  a  contributed  Editorial  in  the  Daily  Home  News 
of  New  Bannswick,  Dec.  27  1913;  Rev.  Harold  Paul 
Sloan  says  that  he  sat  in  the  court  house  one  day  and 
listened  to  the  trial  of  a  number  of  excise  cases.  The 
evidence  was  clear  and  convincing:  the  Court  expressed 
itself  as  satisfied  that  the  law  had  been  violated. 
Then,  when  the  evidence  was  complete,  the  Judge  dis- 
posed of  the  cases  in  words  approximately  these:  There 
is  no  doubt  in  mind  that  the  law  has  been  violated  in 
this  case,  and  in  all  of  these  cases,  and  that  the  violation 


64      THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


is  common  practice  in  this  County;  I  will  not,  however, 
impose  a  penalty  at  this  time,  because  the  people  of  the 
county  have  encouraged  these  violations,  and  they  share 
the  blame.  But,  from  this  time  on,  every  violation  of 
the  law  shall  be  severely  punished. 

Rev.  Sloan  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  Judge's 
decision  was  true  justice;  for  the  people  of  Middlesex 
knew  the  law  was  being  violated,  and  they  did  not 
care  sufficiently  to  protest,  and  in  many  cases,  they 
personlly  encouraged  the  violation;  certainly  they  shared 
in  the  blame. 

Rev.  Sloan's  Editorial  is  full  of  good  sentiment;  but  in 
our  opinion,  he  was  too  careful  of  the  feelings  of  indi- 
viduals, and  placed  the  blame  on  the  people  in  general. 

This  shows,  in  one  sense,  a  generous  spirit,  in  an- 
other sense  it  is  unjust  and  misleading;  and  not  logical. 

The  County  is  a  Republic,  and  delegates  its  powers  in 
the  government,  to  representatives,  to  do  what  should  be 
done  for  the  best  interests  of  the  people;  and  when  that 
is  done  the  people  are  powerless,  except  to  protest  a- 
gainst  the  acts  of  their  representatives,  or  against 
their  failure  to  act. 

It  seems  that  the  Judge  knew  that  the  violation  of 
the  law  was  common  throughout  the  County;  and  by 
threatening  all  who  offended  hereafter,  acknowledged 
his  neglect,  in  the  past,  and  he  is  the  one  to  blame. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.          65 

If  the  Judge  knew  that  the  law  was  violated  through- 
out the  county,  why  did  he  not  put  an  end  to  it  ?  Why 
should  he  wait  for  the  people  to  protest  against  the 
violation  of  the  law,  when  he  will  not  listen  to  a  pro- 
test of  the  people  againt  granting  a  license? 

Why  should  the  Prosecutor,  when  he  has  detectives 
at  his  command,  wa!t  for  a  protest,  to  bring  to  light 
violation  that  tak-3S  place.  Wiiy  should  the  judga  or 
the  prosacutor  need  a  protest  from  the  people  when 
they  both  know  that  the  law  has  been  violated,  and 
that  it  is  their  duty  to  detect  and  punish  offenders  ? 

Rev.  Sloan  expresses  the  greatest  confidence  in  the 
Judges,  and  the  prosecutor  of  New  Brunswick,  with 
wliDm  ha  is  acquainted,  and  says  he  has  had  n:>  qus> 
tion  of  faithfulness  or  siicerity  of  these  officials. 

If  they  have  a  duty  to  perform  and  do  not  perform 
it,  they  cannot  be  faithful,  unless  they  have  made  their 
best  efforts,  and  are  inefficient.  We  do  believe  that  if 
the  laws  were  made  in  sincerity,  they  would  be  faithfully 
executed;  every  one  of  average  intelligence  knows  that 
the  laws,  when  made,  were  not  intended  to  be  enforced. 

Strict  enforcement  would  be  frowned  upon  by  the  law- 
makers. 

When  the  Judge,  referred  to,  said  that  he  knew  that 
violation  of  the  law  was  common  throughout  the  coun- 
ty, ha  made  confession  that  he  had  been  negectfui. 


66        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


Rev.  Sloan  expresses  confidence  in  the  justice  of  the 
Judge;  we  have  confidence  when  he  is  conducting  a  trial 
case  which  comes  before  him;  or  at  any  time  when  act- 
ing in  the  capacity  of  judge,  but  when  acting  as  a  li- 
cense commissioner,  we  have  not. 

\Vhcn  the  judge  licenses  a  man  to  fell  poisonous 
drinks  to  his  fellow  man,  knowing  that  his  act  will 
cause  the  ruin  of  thousands  of  young  men,  and  cause 
heart-aches  to  thousands  of  parents  because  of  licensed 
saloons;  the  judge,  certainly  is  not  just  to  these  suffering 
parents.  But  let  us  hear  what  the  Judge  says  while  not 
in  the  capacity  of  license  commissioner:  In  The  Daily 
Home  New  of  March  23,  1914,  we  read  his  ad'.ice 
given  to  a  young  man  who  had  been  arrested  for  drunk- 
eness  and  begging.  "Stop  the  tears  and  the  heartaches 
of  your  parents,  and  make  a  man  of  yourself" 

The  Judge  had,  on  another  occasion,  warned  him 
that  if  he  "drank  either  beer  or  whiskey,  within  the 
next  three  years,  he  would  be  heavily  punished" 

The  'Commissioner'  says  licenses  are  granted  for  the 
good  of  the  community. 

Will  the  brewers  ever  forgive  the  judge  for  classing 
beer  with  whiskey? 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.         67 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Kow  to  Start  a  Saloon 

It  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  start  a  saloon.  First-handed  ^ 

from  a  saloonist,  I  obtained  the  following  information.  ^/J 
If  a  man  can  get  a  license,  any  brewer  will  set  him  up 
in  business.  The  brewer  will  loan  money  to  pay  the 
license  fee,  fit-up  and  stock  a  saloon  and  take  a  mort- 
gage on  the  whole  outfit,  and  all  the  saloonist  has  to  do 
is  to  sell  all  the  beer  he  can,  make  as  many  cusio.nero  as 
he  can,  which  is  called  "building  up  the  business;"  and 
to  sell  only  tho  beer  of  the  helping  brewer.  This  is  a 
safe  investment  for  the  brewer,  for  whenever  he  is  dis- 
satisfied with  the  saloonist  he  can  foreclose  and  have 
the  license  transferred  to  another. 

The  brewer  has  gained  by  the  transaction,  for  he  has 
secured  from  the  State  another  portion  of  exclusive 
right  to  extend  his  business.  As  the  first  saloonist  se- 
cured new  recruits  and  strengthened  the  appetites  of  old 
drinkers,  he  largely  increased  the  brewer's  interest,  as 
the  drinkers'  appetites,  and  their  habits  of  frequenting 
the  saloon,  are  all  assets  and  add  much  value  to  the 
plant.  Very  few  who  patronize  the  saloon  are  conscious 
that  their  weakness  of  will,  and  their  strength  of  appe- 
tite have  been  made  a  part  of  the  consideration  for  a 
license  fee  paid  by  the  saloonist. 


68        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


CHAPTER  VIII 


Parallel  Cases 

In  the  latter  part  of    October,  1912,  a  police  officer 

in  the  City  of  New  York  was    sentenced  to  die  in  the 

* 

electric  chair,  for  murder  in  the  first  degree.  The  cir- 
cumstances were  as  follows:  the  lieutenant  persuaded  a 
bad  men  to  take  the  life  of  another  man. 

In  the  same  month,  a  judge  of  Middlesex  County, 
N.  J.  granted  a  license  to  a  man  living  in  the  county, 
to  sell  intoxicating  liquors;  the  sale  of  which  liquor 
caused  the  death  of  a  patron  of  the  saloon. 

The  lieutenant  knew  that  his  tools  were  bad  men, 
and  he  also  knew  that  if  they,  his  tools,  used  the  means 
they  were  persuaded  to  use,  it  would  cause  the  death  of 
the  victim.  The  lieutenant  wras  found  guilty  of  mur- 
der because  he  persuaded  or  advised  the  killing  of  a 
fellow  man;  and  he  was  considered  as  guilty  as  those 
who  fired  the  fatal  shots.  The  lieutenant  was  consid- 
ered the  initiative  factor  in  the  tragedy,  and  all  the 
others  acted  subordinate  parts. 

The  Judge  knew  that  the  granting  of  a  license  would 
result  in  the  death  of  more  than  one  man. 


TH  E  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.         69 

Statistics  show,  an  the  Judge  knew  that  one  of  every 
five  of  the  boys  of  the  country,  are  destroyed  by  the 
saloons.  The  Judge  also  knew  that  the  man  who  ap- 
plied for  a  license  was  willing  to  sell  poisonous  drinks 
not-with-standing  it  would  cause  the  death  of  some  of 
his  patrons.  The  Judge  gave  a  permit  to  a  bad  man, 
to  sell  poison  to  cause  the  death  of  a  fellow  man. 

The  lieutenant  knew  that  his  ADVICE  would  result  in 
the  death  of  one  man,  the  Judge  knew  that  his  PERMIT 
would  result  in  the  death  of  more  than  one  man. 

Which  was  worse,  the  ADVICE  or  the  PERMIT  ? 

Of  course,  the  Judge  could  not  be  convicted  of  crime, 
for  he  acted  in  accordance  with  the  laws;  but,  that 
only  shifts  the  blame  to  the  lawmakers;  still,  if  the  law 
leaves  it  optional  with  the  judge  to  gra:it  or  not  to  grant 
a  license,  he  is  morally  guilty,  because  he  chose  the 
wrong  when  he  might  have  chosen  the  right. 

We  may  excuse  and  deceive  ourselves,  and  our  fel- 
low man;  but  we  cannot  deceive  The  Great  Judge  nor 
look  Him  out  of  countenance  as  wa  can  our  fallow 
man. 

Let  us  look  at  the  matter  in  the  light  of  plain  com- 
mon sense.  A  man  who  is  wicked  enough  to  wish  to 
make  money  by  selling  poison  to  his  fellow  irnn  com  23 
before  a  judge,  whose  duty  is  to  see  that  justice  prevails 
bewtee.i  man  and  man,  to  punish  all  wrong  d>:rs  and 


70  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE   CONFLICT 


to  suppress  wrong  as  far  as  possible;  this  man  leads 
five  little  boys  before  the  Judge  and  says:  I  have  here 
some  little  boys  to  whom  I  wish  to  sell  rum  and  beer 
as  soon  as  they  are  old  enough  to  come  under  my  influ- 
ence. I  have  no  natural  right  to  sell,  because  it  is  not 
right;  but,  I  am  told  that  if  I  pay  you  for  it,  you  will 
give  me  a  permit  to  sell  and  it  will  not  then  be  wrong. 

You  and  I  both  know  that  according  to  statistics,  one 
of  these  five  boys  will  be  poisoned  to  death;  but,  this 
'indulgence',  for  which  I  pay,  frees  me  from  all  guilt. 

There  are  twelve  men  just  outside  the  door  who  own 
a  little  land,  and  will  vouch  for  me,  that  1  am  a  man  of 
of  good  moral  character,  not-with-standing  I  am  will- 
ing to  corrupt  the  morals  of  these  little  boy  and  de- 
stroy their  usefulness  in  this  life  and  their  hopes  of  a 
future;  these  men  will  assure  you  that  it  is  for  the  best 
interests  of  the  community  in  which  I  vyish  to  locate, 
that  a  saloon  should  be  established  there:  and  to  further 
satisfy  your  Honor,  I  have  a  learned  lawyer  who,  be- 
cause of  much  practice,  may  be  considered  an  expert  ad- 
vocate for  the  granting  of  licenses,  who  will  vouch  for 
the  propriety  of  granting  me  a  license. 

The  above  is  a  simple,  logical  presentation  of  the  li- 
cense-granting farce,  when  cleared  of  judicial  atmosphere 
and  legal  formality.  If  a  judge  grants  licenses  under  these 
conditions,  he  deceives  himself,  if  he  thinks  he  is  innocent. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  71 


It  is  a  pity  that  the  State  does  mot  furnish  some  data 
by  which  the    Judge  could  determine  for    a    certainty 
what  .benefit  saloons  would  to  a  community,  without  rely- 
ing upon  the  judgment  of  the  signers  to  an  application, 
who  are  patrons  of  the  saloons. 

Referring  again  to  the  case  of  the  lieutenant,  and  the 
judge;  we  find  that  the  two  cases  are  alike  in  principle 
though  not  the  same  in  degree.  The  judge  who  com- 
missions a  man  to  sell  poison  which  he  knows  will  find 
its  way  to  the  stomach  of  men  to  poison  them,  really 
furnishes  the  means  to  destroy  them.  The  lieutenant 
caused  the  death  of  one  man,  but  the  saloon  causes 
the  death  of  more  than  one,  and  degrades  all  of  its 
patrons;  and  brings  trouble  and  sorrow  to  the  innocent, 
and  causes  poverty  and  crime.  Many  troubles  and  sor- 
rows come  to  mankind,  by  way  of  disease,  accident  and 
calamity;  but  nothing  reaches  the  hellishness  of  the  sa- 
loon which  is  forced  upon  us  by  the  lawmakers. 

There  seems  to  be  a  design  in  the  selection  of  a 
judge  to  touch  the  lever  which  sets  the  saloon  in  motion. 

The  fundamental  function  of  a  judge  in  our  govern- 
ment, was  to  review  the  acts  of  the  lawmakers  and  pass 
judgment  on  the  constitutionality  of  the  samse  and  the 
lower  judges  followed  the  rulings  of  their  superiors;  the 
lawmakers  have  imposed  duties  upon  county  judges, 
much  to  the  injury  of  the  judge's  dignity  and  usefulness 


72         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CNOFLICT 

CHAPTER  IX 

Post  Offices  and  Saloons. 

The  Post  Office  Department  at  Washington  has  es- 
tablished offices  throughout  the  Country  where  ever 
thero  are  inhabitants  enough  to  make  one  necessary, 
and  of  late  years  has,  established  the  R.  F.  D.  system, 
so  that  every  one  has  full  advantage  of  the  postal  serv- 
ice, and  the  rural  resident  is  brought  within  commu- 
nicating nearness  with  the  whole  world.  We  can  but 
admire  the  completeness  of  the  system,  and  we  realize 
its  usefulness.  Such  a  system  could  not  have  been  or- 
ganized except  by  harmonious  action  on  the  part  of 
the  authorities  and  the  force  of  law.  The  brewers  have 
as  perfect  an  organization  for  the  distribution  of  their 
beer,  which  they  could  not  have  without  the  aid  of  the 
lawmakers  and  the  negative  co-operation  of  the  United 
States  Government.  The  state  has  Judge-agents  in  every 
county  to  appoint  sub-agents,  called  "appointees  of  the 
Court,"  but  known  to  us  as  Rum-sellers.  Every  foot  of 
territory  is  covered  by  the  beer  wagon,  and  the  four 
walls  of  the  saloon  do  not  limit  the  saloonist's  territory. 
There  is  logic  in  acts,  as  well  as  in  words.  By  the  distribu- 
tion of  beer  only,  the  State  endorses  the  use  of  beer. 

No  class  of  business  men  have  such  protection  as  the 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  73 


brewers  have.  The  object  of  the  beer  wagon  is  two- 
fold: to  sell  more  beer,  and  to  teach  children  who  are 
too  young  to  go  to  the  saloon,  to  drink  in  their  homes. 

The  School  Census  of  Patterson,  N.  J.,  made  a  few 
days  ago,  showed  eighty  cases  of  drunkeness  of  school 
children.  No  doubt,  the  fruit  of  the  beer  delivered  to 
families  by  the  beer  wagon.  The  brewers,  by  the  help 
of  the  lawmakers,  have  accomplished  as  much,  in  the 
way  of  perfect  organization,  as  the  United  States  has,  in 
the  mail  service.  When  the  territory  of  a  state  is 
farmed  out  to  individuals  for  a  private  business,  by  the 
lawmakers,  it  is  time  that  men  should  look  out  for  their 
freedom.  There  is  no  other  business  that  has  such 
protection, 

It  is  said  that  the  meat  packers  forming  the  beef 
trust,  have  the  Western  States  divided  among  them- 
selves so  that  each  packer  has  territory  in  which  no 
other  packer  may  enter  for  the  purpose  of  buying  cat- 
tle. This  arrangement  prevents  competition,  and  cat- 
tle raisers  must  sell  at  the  buyer's  price. 
The  principle  of  dividing  the  territory  by  the  packers 
and  dividing  the  territory  for  the  brewers,  is  the  same. 

For  the  purposes  of  the  beef  business,  the  packers 
divide  for  themselves;  but  for  the  brewers,  the  Judge 
does  the  dividing.  For  the  past  few  years,  the  Govern- 
ment has  frowned  upon  the  beef  trust,  but  the  brewers 


74         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CNOFLICT 


bask  in  the  sunny  smiles  of  the  lawmakers. 
It  is  evident  that  these  laws  were  not  asked  for  by 
the  people,  for  the  majority  would  not  ask  for  laws 
that  would  deprive  themselves  of  privileges  which  oth- 
ers enjoy.  When  it  becomes  known  that  the  lawmakers 
mis-use  the  power  given  to  them  by  the  people,  for  the 
benefit  of  brewers,  or  any  class,  to  the  injury  of  those 
who  gave  that  power;  the  people  will  rebel.  They  are 
fast  learning  to  understand  the  partiality  of  the  law- 
makers. The  result  of  the  probing  for  graft,  now  going 
on  in  the  City  of  New  York,  furnishes  good  evidence 
that  men  of  high  standing,  will  bear  watching. 

We  make  no  distinction  between  the  polititician,  and 
the  lawmaker;  for  when  the  politician  is  elected,  he  is 
a  politician  still,  and  will  be  influenced  by  politicians. 

Evils  of  Beer  Peddling. 

If  beer  wagons  were  not  allowed  to  peddle  beer  from 
house  to  house,  there  would  be  much  less  beer  drink- 
ing in  families.  There  are  many  families  whe  now  pat- 
ronize the  beer  wagon  who  would  not  patronize  the  sa- 
loon; this  is  very  evident,  for  it  is  to  sell  more  beer, 
and  gain  new  recruits,  that  the  wagon  is  sent  out.  If  it  is 
the  object  of  the  beer  wagon  to  sell  more  beer  than 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  75 


is  called  for  at  the  saloon,  it  is  evidenr.  that  the  lawmak- 
ers are  in  with  the  brewers,  to  increase  the  amount  of 
sales,  and  make  more  patrons  of  the  saloon. 

The  lawmaker  might  be  considered  consistent  in  say- 
ing that  saloons  are  necessary  to  quench  the  thirst  of 
those  who  have  strong  appetites,  but,  there  is  no  reason 
to  send  the  wagon  out  to  families  for  this  purpose  of 
creating  appetites  to  enrich  the  brewers. 

There  are  thousands  of  children  who  become  acquaint- 
ed with  the  taste  and  the  effects  of  beer,  when  it  is 
supplied  to  them  in  their  homes,  who  would  never  know 
its  taste,  except  for  the  beer  wagon.  They  get  the  taste 
and  the  liking  for  beer,  before  they  are  permitted  to 
visit  the  saloon;  and,  when  they  get  old  enough  to  buy 
at  the  saloon,  they  will,  all  ready,  have  become  moder- 
ate drinkers. 

The  beer  wagon  has  not  been  on  the  road  long  enough 
to  show  just  what  the  result  will  be,  but  time  will  tell. 

Supplying  beer  to  children  at  their  homes,  is  the 
Kindergarten  of  the  saloon  business. 

If  beer  drank  in  the  saloon  will   create  a   desire  for 
strong     drink,  it  will  produce  the    same    effect  when 
drank  at  home.     The  lawmakers  have  gone  away  back 
to  the    cradle,    to     familiarize  the  baby  stomach  with 
the  use  of  beer. 


76         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


,  Statistics  show  that  in  1909,  there  were,  in  the 
v)  United  States,  one  hundred  and  eighty  deaths  caused  by 
smallpox,  eleven  thousand  four  hundred  and  eight, 
from  scarlet  fever;  and  from  diphtheria  and  croup, 
twenty-three  thousand  and  four  hundred;  from  pneumo- 
nia, seventy  thousand  and  thirty  three;  from  tuberculosis 
eighty-one  thousand  seven  huudred  and  twenty;  from 
cancer,  thirty-seven  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty-two; 
and  from  alcohol,  one-hundred  and  fifty-two  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  eighty-one. 

Counting  the  number  of  deaths  caused  by  tuberculo- 
sis, and  the  number  caused  by  pneumonia,  making  a 
total  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  three;  we  find  that  the  number  of  deaths 
caused  by  alcohol,  was  one  thousand  and  twenty-eight 
more  than  the  deaths  caused  by  tuberculosis  and  pneu- 
monia combined. 

People  throughout  the  United  States  are  intensely  in 
terested  in  their  efforts  to  stamp  out  the  above  named 
diseases,  and  the  lawmakers  in  most  of  the  states  are 
intensely  in  earnest  to  increase  the  number  of  deaths  by 
alcohol.  Death  by  tuberculosis  is  preferable,  for  the 
victim  may  have  lived  a  pure  and  useful  life,  with  a 
bright  hope  of  a  happy  future;  while  the  drunkard  who 
dies  because  of  a  wasted  and  sinful  life,  must  look  for- 
ward with  great  anxiety. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  77 

CHAPTER  X 

Drunkeness  aad  Disease. 

The  definition  of  'disease,'  as  given  by  Webster,  "Any  de- 
viation from  health  in  function  or  structure,  the  cause 
of  pain  or  uneasiness;  malady  or  sickness."  "Any  con- 
dition of  a  living  body  in  which  the  organs  are  in- 
terrupted or  disturbed."  "A  disordered  state  of  mind 
or  intellect,  by  which  the  reason  is  impaired." 

The  first  effects  of  disease,  uneasiness,  and  pain,  the 
final  result  is  death." 

Under  the  head  'Alcohol',  we  quote  from  the  National 
Encyclopedia  as  follows:  It  seems  to  be  proved  that 
alcohol  stays  in  the  blood  for  a  long  time:  that  it  exer- 
cises a  direct  and  primary  action  on  the  nervous  centers, 
whose  functions  it  modifies,  perverts,  or  abolishes,  accord- 
ing to  the  dose  and  accumulation  in  the  nervous  cen- 
ters, and  in  the  liver.  There  are  frequent  occasions  of  ^3L 
cases  in  which  it  is  almost  impossible  for  a  non-pro- 
fessional person;  the  police  for  example,  to  distinguish 
between  drunkeness  and  apoplexy,  concussion  of  the 
brain  and  opium  poisoning.  It  is  the  unanimous  opinion 
of  all  medical  and  scientific  men  of  high  repute,  that 
alcohol  causes  insanity,  idiocy,  epilepsy  and  diseases  of 
all  kinds." 


78         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CNOFLICT 


Drunkeness  is  caused  by  the  lawmakers  who  are  try- 
ing to  stamp  out  other  diseases. 

In  1911,  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania  created  a 
Commission  to  study  the  subject  of  segregation,  care 
and  treatment  of  feble  minded  and  epileptic  persons. 

After  two  years'  work,  the  Committee  reported  in 
part,  as  follows:  "Alcoholism  and  feble- mindedness  are 
so  intimately  related,  as  to  bring  this  subject  within  the 
province  of  this  Commission,  whic'i  from  its  investigation 
feels  warranted  in  making  the  declaration  that  alcohol- 
ism, next  to  heredity,  is  the  most  prominent  contribu- 
tory cause  in  producing  mental  defects,  degeneration 
and  disease. 

We  quote  from  Dr.  Britton  D.  Fvans,  medical  direct- 
or of  the  Morrisplains  Hospital,  as  follows:  "As  the 
outcome  of  habitual  drunkeness,  dipsomania  or  inebriety 
in  the  parent,  the  children  have  frequently  transmitted 
to  them  a  neuropathic  taint,  a  predisposition  to  mental 
unbalance  or  an  unsteady  equilibrium.  Not  only  have 
I  subscribed  to  this,  but  I  have  gone  further  and  stated 
to  you  that  parents  who  are  victims  of  alcoholism  in  its 
various  pronounced  forms  beget  children  who  not  only 
more  readily  manifest  many  of  the  functional  neuroses, 
but  show  the  pernicious  results  of  alcohol  in  the  exhi- 
bition of  insanity,  epilepsy,  idiocy,  imbecility  and 
cholera." 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


The  proposition  to  establish  laws  to  subject  persons 
to  an  examination  as  to  physical  fitness  to  enter  into 
matrimonial  alliance  is  being  advocated,  and  seems  to  be 
gaining  favor;  and  may  become  a  law  in  the  near  fu- 
ture; for  the  enactment  of  a  law  does  not  depend  upon 
the  wishes  of  the  majority  of  the  people,  but  on  the 
will  and  desire  of  the  lawmakers.  Should  sach  a  law 
be  made,  it  would  open  up  the  way  to  graft  which  would 
far  exceed  the  gambling  graft,  or  the  saloon  graft. 

Saloon  and  gambling  graft  can  be  practiced  only  by 
those  engaged  in  those  things,  but  graft  on  physical 
conditions  could  be  practiced  by  every  unmarried  male 
or  female  of  marriageable  age.  and  there  would  be  a 
rich  harvest  for  health  examiners. 

But,  should  such  a  law  be  passed,  a  large  percentage 
of  the  young  men  of  marriageable  age,  would  be  un- 
fit to  marry  because  of  physical  effects  of  the  moderate 
use  of  alcoholic  drinks;  and,  if  habits  and  appetites,  are 
considered  tendencies  to  the  developement  of  some  dis- 
ease, the  number  of  ineligible  young  men,  would  be 
greatly  increased.  Young  men  who  indulge  in  drinking, 
should  bear  this  in  mind,  or  they  may  create  suspicion 
against  themselves. 


80  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  State  vs.  Youth 


The  State  makes  laws  to  regulate  the  sale  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors  and  to  limit  the  evils  resulting  from  such 
sale.  This  implies  that  without  regulation,  the  saloons 
are  evils,  and  if  regulation  does  not  remove  them,  they 
are  still  there.  The  fact  that  lawmakers  pretend  to  e- 
liminate  the  evils  is  a  guarantee  that  they  have  been 
eliminated,  which  disarms  youth  of  suspicion;  and  they 
look  upon  the  saloon  as  a  serpent  whose  poisonous  fangs 
have  been  drawn,  and  therefore,  harmless.  They  look 
upon  the  saloon  so  purified  by  regulation,  that  it  is  a 
"Poor  Man's  Club,"  provided  by  the  State  for  the  poor 
man.  Under  a  wrong  impression  of  the  character  of 
the  saloon,  and  the  erroneous  belief  in  its  harmlessness, 
he  makes  himself  acquainted  with  the  workings  of  the 
saloon,  and  is  bitten,  and  when  it  is  too  late,  he  learns 
that  the  serpent's  fangs  have  not  been  drawn;  and  he 
finds  that  the  State  has  been  guilty  of  deception  and 
false  pretense.  The  further  fact  that  the  State  shows 
its  care  and  guardianship  over  the  children  of  the  state 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT    81 


by  providing  schools,  teachers,  book,  and  many  means  of 
fitting  the  children  to  become  useful  citizens,  and  to 
enable  them  to  enjoy  all  the  advantages  that  a  good 
education  gives;  and  at  the  same  time,  enacting  laws 
compelling  parents  to  send  their  children  to  school;  all 
these  evidences  of  careful  guardianship  gain  the  confi- 
dence of  the  child;  and  then  the  state  establishes  saloons 
that  depend  upon  these  same  children  for  thoir  support. 

The  drunkards  of  the  future  generation,  are  in  the 
public  schools  of  to-day.  The  lawmakers  are  more  inter- 
ested in  the  saloons  than  they  are  in  the  public  schools, 
because  they  get  political  support  from  the  saloons,  but 
not  from  the  schools. 

When  a  boy  leaves  school,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  his 
knowledge  of  the  evils  of  the  saloon,  has  been  obtained 
by  observation  of  drunkards,  and,  while  he  naturally  ab- 
hors drunkeness,  he  looks  at  the  matter  as  the  over-in- 
dulgence of  the  drunkard,  and  not  a  fault  of  the  sa- 
loon. He  comes  to  this  conclusion  by  observing  mod- 
erate drinkers. 

At  this  age,  a  boy  has  not  a  fully  developed  character, 
and  is  easily  influenced,  and  apt  to  indulge  in  what- 
ever will  give  him  pleasure.  This  is  the  most  dangerous 
period,  and  much  depends  upon  surrounding  influ- 
ences, and  he  is  dangerously  near  the  edge  of  a  preci- 
pice, and  friendly  hands  should  be  ready  to  draw  him 


82  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 

- 

away  from  danger.  There  is  scarcely  a  chance  to  save 
a  confirmed  drunkard  after  he  has  fallen  from  his  man- 
hood, but  when  we  see  the  youth  indulging  in  his  first 
glass;  or,  better  still,  if  we  can  take  hold  of  him  when 
he  is  first  tempted,  we  may  lend  him  a  helping  hand. 
The  first  drink  is  the  danger  point. 

The  State  provides  asylumns  for  the  inebriate,  and 
it  also  establishes  saloons  that  make  inebriates,  and 
the  saloons  are  scattered  all  over  the  state  where  ever 
a  saloon  can  be  made  profitable.  Children  in  the  public 
school  are  provided  with  text  book  to  teach  of  the  evil 
effects  of  alcohol  on  the  human  system,  the  children  are 
made  to  wonder  why  saloons  exist  on  every  corner. 
No  one  can  explain  the  inconsistency  without  charging 
the  lawmakers  with  duplicity.  The  result  of  this  duplic- 
ity of  the  lawmakers,  is  to  cause  the  children,  when  they 
become  older  and  can  reason  for  themselves,  to  detest 
the  laws  and  to  feel  themselves  justified  in  violating  any 
law  provided  they  can  do  it  and  avoid  detection. 

Children  who  suffer  because  of  intemperate  fathers 
are  quick  to  feel  the  injury  done  to  them  by  the  laws 
which  establish  saloons,  and  the  State,  in  time,  suffers 
because  of  bad  citizens. 

We  quote  from  the  American  Issue,  a  part  of  an 
Editorial  of  March  21,  1913,  as  follows:  If  it  is 
an  offense  to  curtail  the  education  of  the  young 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  83 


by  reason  of  a  wrongful  political  system;  if  it  is  an 
offense  to  overwork  children  through  ignorance  of  the 
principles  of  industrial  efficiency;  what  shall  be  said  of 
a  system  that  makes  children  drunkards,  to  feed  the 
greed  of  brewers?  A  system  of  vice  monopoly,  not 
content  to  steal  the  brain,  and  prostitute  the  body,  but 
disinherits  the  soul  and  closes  the  door  of  heaven? 


84        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 
CHAPTER  XII 


Newspaper  Influence 


Newspapers  are  powerful  for  the  cultivation  of  senti- 
ment, either  good  or  bad,  according  to  the  tendencies  of 
the  editor,  or  the  correspondents;  and  it  is  a  habit,  and 
sometimes  the  policy  of  the  editor  to  magnify  the  mer- 
its of  a  saying  or  an  expressed  principle,  and  to  ampli- 
fy there  upon.  Newspapers  are  educators,  as  well,  and 
are  duly  appreciated  for  the  good  they  do.  Their  success 
depends  largely  upon  the  support  and  good  will  of  men 
who  are  high  up  in  political  circles,  and  to  secure  their 
support  and  good  wills  the  editor  sometimes  resorts  to 
flattery,  and  extols  the  importance  of  sentiments  more 
than  is  justified. 

We  illustrate  by  a  quotation  from  the  Daily  Home 
News,  of  December  27,  1912. 

"The  Reason" 

"President  elect  Wilson  has  been  telling  how  he  smoked 
once  and  only  once.  The  first  cigar  made  him  sick;  but 
this  was  not  the  reason  that  he  did  not  persevere  in 
possessing  himself  of  a  taste  which  is  always  an  acquired 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.         85 


one.  No  body  said  he  must  not  smoke;  and  so  there  was 
no  incentive  to  do  that  which  might  make  him  sick  a- 
gain."  The  editor  continues:  "We  are  glad  to  have  this 
universal  law  of  human  nature  touched  upon  by  a  man 
who  may  be  accepted  as  authority  in  the  matter  of 
young  human  nature."  The  editor  continues:  "the  gen- 
eral class  of  human  beings  who  may  be  referred  to  as 
prohibitionists  of  one  kind  or  another:  the  people  who  are 
forever  saying  'thou  shalt  not'  relative  to  everything  of 
which  they  do  not  approve,  may  learn  mac'i  from  the 
story  of  the  boy  who  did  not  learn  to  smoke  bacause 
no  one  said  he  must  not." 

Was  it  Mr.  Wilson  who  gave  the  reason  for  not  not 
smoking    the  second  cigar,  or  was  it  the  editor  ? 
The  comments  and  the  sentiments    are  clearly  the  edi- 
tor's. 

As  to  the  little  boy's  smoking  only  one  cigar,  or  his 
reason  for  not  smoking  another,  does  not  concern  us; 
but  the  editor's  remarks,  and  the  use  of  this  little  inci- 
dent in  a  boy's  life,  to  build  up  an  argument  against 
prohibitionists,  as  well  as  all  laws  of  restraint,  compel  us 
to  notice  his  remarks. 

The  editor  cites  Mr.  Wilson,  to  give  force  to  his  ar- 
gument, and  qualifies  him  as  an  expert  authority  of 
much  experience  as  a  teacher  of  youth.  The  wisdom  of 
the  man  commends  the  act  of  the  boy. 


£6       THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


The  Daily  Home  News  is  received  into  our  family 
as  a  clean  and  valuable  paper,  and  we  are  sorry  to 
object  to  the  sentiments  expressed  in  the  above  men- 
tioned article. 

The  teaching  of  this  article  is  that  ''Thou  shalt  not" 
is  an  incentive  to  do  what  is  forbidden,  an  furnishes  an 
excuse  for  children  who  do  wrong,  and  if  the  parent 
says  to  hb  child,  "thou  shait  not,'?  die  parent  becomes 
responsible  for  the  wrong  done  by  the  child. 

It  is  true  that  Prof.  Wilson  is  a  teacher  of  youth  and 
should  be  authority  on  this  subject.  The  writer  has 
devoted  thirty-four  years  to  the  education  of  the  3'oung 
and  has  found  that  "thou  shalt  not"  backed  by  strict 
enforcement  of  just  laws  is  a  healthful  and  beneficial 
discipline;  and  I  am  sure  that  Prof.  Wilson  could  not 
have  attained  the  success  he  has  in  educating  youth, 
without  the  use  of  rertrictive  rales. 

The  Ten  Commandments,  given  by  Him  who  made 
man,  and  knew  the  nature  of  man  as  well  as  tha  com- 
manmsnts,  contains  "thoa  shait  not"  ten  tuies.  God  said 
Thou  mayest  eat,  &c.  but  his  first  command  was,  Thou 
shalt  not  &~.,  a:id,  that  our  first  parents  fell,  was 
because  of  the  argument  used  by  the  devil;  and  the 
Home  News  cannot  claim  originality  in  presenting  this 
argj;nent.  According  to  this  argument,  God  made  an 
incentive  to  violate  His  Commands. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT.         87 


Most  of  the  laws  of  the  state  are  intended  to  restrain 
wrong  doing,  and  all  say  "thou  shalt  not".  If  there 
are  no  restaining  laws,  men  can  only  be  punished  when 
they  fail  to  do  what  they  are  commanded  to  do;  but, 
according  to  the  editor's  theory,  a  command  to  DO 
would  be  as  much  an  incentive  NOT  TO  DO,  as  a 
comnaid  NOT  TO  DO,  would  be  TO  DO. 

Government,  as  we  understand  it,  implies  control,  ac- 
cording to  certain  prescribed  conditions  consistent  with 
the  rights  and  duties  of  the  governed;  and  if  there 
were  no  virtue  in  ''thou  shalt  not,"  there  would  be  no 
control.  It  is  true  that  those  who  are  under  the  control 
of  others,  are  inclined  to  do  what  thayai'3  commanded 
not  to  do,  but  they  are  as  inclined  not  to  do  what  they 
are  commanded  to  do.  The  truth  is  that  some  men 
are  so  strong  in  their  desire  to  do  as  they  please 
that  they  do  as  they  wish  in  SPITE  of  command,  and 
not  BECAUSE  of  it.  All  restraint  is  objectionable  to 
those  who  are  inclined  to  do  evil. 


88        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


The  One  Great  Question 

The  New  York  Journal  of  August  19,  1913,  reaches 
us  this  day  with  a  surprise  in  store,  which  we  are  com- 
pelled lo  r.otice.  Two  double  columns  of  Edi-o.-ial  page 
are  given  to  this  subject.  The  argumo.it  is  that  it  is 
an  impossibility  to  secure  prohibition  by  laws,  and  the 
only  way  to  solve  the  question  of  drunkeness,  is  to  tarn 
from  whiskey  to  bear,  and  the  only  way  this  can  b3 
brought  about,  is  for  the  twenty  thousand  editors  in 
the  United  States  to  act  as  teachers  and  "com  Del  their 
readers  to  think  upon  it  with  concentration  and  discuss 
it  sanely."  The  reason  given  for  the  change  from  whis- 
key to  beer,  is  that  it  is  impossible  to  enforce  prohibi- 
tion by  law,  but  tli2  brewers  think  thoy  can  prohibit 
the  sale  of  whiskey. 

f  v^5 

We  have  read  the  article  several  times,  with  much 
surprise;  and  have  concluded  that  it  is  editorial  space, 
loaned  to  the  brewers  at  advertising  rates.  But  the  in- 

x.  ^         t1-^1 

fluence  of  the  paper  was  sold  with  the  space. 

The  proposition  to  induce  editors  to  become  beer  a- 
gents,  and  beer  advocates,  by  a  paper  of  such  influ- 
ence as  the  Journal,  without  compensation  from  the 
brewers,  or,  for  compensation,  staggers  us;  and  to  think 
that  it  was  realy  an  "Editorial"  !  !  ! 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT          89 

CHAPTER  XIII 

The  Cat  Out  of  The  Bag. 

Some  time  ago  when  the  wave  of  prohibition  was 
making  great  gains  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
the  brewers  became  a  little  nervous  and  thought  it  nec- 
essary to  jog  the  minds  of  the  lawmakers;  and  at  a 
convention  of  the  New  Jersey  State  Brewers'  Associa- 
tion, at  Newark,  N  J.,  passed  the  following  resolution: 
"Resolved  that  the  brewers  of  New  Jersey  in  common 
with  the  their  fellow  manufacturers  throughout  the  U- 
nited  States,  earnestly  appeal  to  the  lawmakers,  to 
ADHERE  to  their  policy  of  ENCOURAGING  and 
FOSTERING  an  American  industry  which  produces 
the  most  healthful  and  nutritious  beverge,  containing 
a  smaller  amount  of  alcohol  than  any  fermented  liquor, 
and  therefore,  universally  recognized  as  the  most  effect- 
ive TEMPERANCE  AGENT,  where  ever  the  evils  of 
alcohol  demand  remedial  legislation." 

According  to  Webster's  dictionary,  ADHERE  means 
TO  STICK  TO.  The  petition,  then  is  that  the  lawmakers 
stick  to  their  policy  &c.;  and  the  inference  is  that  the 
lawmakers  have,  in  the  past,  had  a  policy  of  encourag- 
ing and  fostering  the  beer  business  and  the  brewer? 
wish  them  to  continue  the  same  policy. 


90  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


Is  Beer  a  Temperance  Agent? 


Every  body,  even  the  brewers,  know  that  drunkeness 
is  caused  by  drinking  alcoholic  drinks,  and  that  a  taste 
or  slight  indulgence  in  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  will 
create  an  appetite  that  increases  according  to  frequen- 
cy and  extent  of  indulgence,  until  it  cannot  be  satisfied. 

If  this  is  true,  the  question  is,  is  beer  a  temperance 
agent  ?  Beer  is  said  to  contain  two  percent  alcohol; 
and  brandy  contains  from  ten  to  twenty-five  percent  of 
its  weight,  of  alcohol.  Taking  the  average  of  the  sever- 
al varieties  of  brandy,  say  eighteen  percent,  and  com- 
paring it  with  beer  at  two  percent  alcohol,  and  we  get 
the  following  result:  The  average  drink  of  brandy,  is  a 
common  small  glass  about  one  fourth  full,  or  about  five 
cubic  inches.  A  common  drink  of  beer,  is  a"schooner" 

<V     • 

filled  full,  which  contains  about  forty-five  cubic  inches, 
or  nine  times  the  bulk  of  a  drink  of  brandy.  It  is  evi- 
dent then,  that  a  schooner  of  beer  will  contain  just  as 
much  alcohol  as  a  drink  of  brandy. 

The  brewers  may  claim  that  it  is  not  fair  to  compare 
beer  with  brandy,  unless  the  same  quantity  of  each  be 
taken,  but  we  are  considering  beer  as  a  temperance 
drink,  and  we  must  consider  the  size  of  the  dose 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT          91 


required  to  satisfy  his  thirst.  Beer  is  not  a  temperance 
agent,  but  an  agent  to  produce  drunkeness. 
The  brewers'  formula  is  on  the  principle  of  "Similia 
Similibus  Curantur,"  but  to  be  consistent,  they  should 
follow  the  Homeopathic  practice  of  dilution,  say  the 
second  dilution;  one  drop  of  alcohol  to  ten  thousand 
drops  of  water.  Even  if  beer  is  a  temperance  drink,  it 
should  not  be  sold  at  the  same  place  where  stronger 
drinks  are  sold.  If  a  man  has  malarial  fever,  it  is  not 
good  for  him  to  go  to  a  malarial  swamp  to  take  his 
medicine.  If  a  man  does  not  drink  stronger  alcoholic 
liquors,  there  is  no  need  of  his  drinking  beer  to  cure 
him  when  he  has  no,  disease;  and  if  he  has  the  habit, 
of  drinking  stronger  alcoholic  drinks,  beer  will  not  satisfy 
him,  for  the  same  quantity  of  alcohol  will  be  required, 
whether  it  be  in  whiskey  or  in  larger  bulk,  beer.  There 
is  something  wrong  with  the  brewers'  logic,  for  there 
is  more  beer  sold  every  year,  and  there  are  more 
drunkards.  If  any  man  likes  beer  better  than  he  likes 
brandy  he  has  already  ajl  the  beer,  he  can  pay  for,  and 
there  is  no  need  of  help  of  the  lawmakers. 

The  use  of  beer  to  cure  the  habit  of  drunkeness,  is 
like  the  brewers'  formula  for  making  beer:  juniper  ber- 
as  an  antidote  for  salicylic  acid;  and  the  saloons  need 
beer  as  an  antidote  for  the  whiskey  they  sell.  Beer  ,as  a 
cure  for  drunkeness,  is  a  failure, 


92  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


A  Cry  for  Help. 

Referring  again  to  the  brewers'  resolution,  they  in- 
clude with  themselves,  as  petitioners,  all  of  the  brewers 
of  the  United  States,  and  humbly  petition  the  lawmak- 
ers of  all  the  states  to  adhere,  &c.,  which  indicates  that 
the  lawmakers  of  ail  the  states  are  closely  connected 
with  the  brewers  of  the  several  states,  and  that  the 
policy  of  all  the  states  is  to  "encourage  and  foster"  the 
beer  business.  This  cry  for  help  shows  that  the  brewers 
have  heard  the  heavy  tramp  of  the  temperance  army 
as  it  goes  marching  on.  Let  temperance  workers  take 
the  hint,  and  regard  the  lawmakers,  even  as  the  brewers 
do,  the  foundation  and  support  of  the  beer  business;  and 
remember  that  the  power  given  to  them  by  the 
people,  for  the  good  of  the  people,  the  lawmakers  are 
using  for  a  special  class  who  prey  upon  the  people. 

The  lawmakers  have  beaten  us  with  the  club  we 
placed  in  their  hands  to  defend  us  with,  and  we  tamely 
submit;  and  the  lawmakers  laugh  at  our  credulity. 

We  have  long  suspected  that  there  was  an  under- 
standing between  the  brewers  and  the  lawmakers,  but 
have  not  been  able  to  prove  it,  until  one  of  the  parties 
to  the  understanding  "squealed"  on  the  other  party,  at 
a  moment  of  excitement,  and  the  truth  comes  out. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  93 


This  understanding  throws  light  on  the  character  of 
the  laws  that  are  made  regulating  the  sale  of  intoxi- 
cating drinks.  The  qnestion  is;  what  do  the  brewers 
do  for  the  lawmakers  in  consideration  of  such  favor  ? 

The  President's  Message 

Another  resolution  by  the  same  conventon,  reads  as 
follows:  "We  denounce  all  places  of  an  unlawful  and 
disorderly  character  and  heartily  RECOMMEND  the 
enactment  of  such  laws  as  will  effectually  prevent  them, 
and  punish  those  who  conduct  them."  This  is  a  large 
measure  of  piety,  on  the  part  of  the  brewers,  but  it 
does  not  cost  them  anything,  not  even  a  glass  of  beer, 
but  is  calculated  to  make  a  deep  impression  on  the 
minds  of  the  opposers  of  the  saloon.  But  even  in  this 
spasmodic  outburst  of  piety  the  brewers  have  not  lost 
sight  of  their  beer  interests,  but  are  still  working  for 
Mr.  Brewer.  Of  course,  the  brewers  are  speaking  of 
places  where  beer  is  sold,  and  they  know  that  if  the 
disorderly  feature  of  the  saloon  could  be  eliminated,  it 
would  make  saloons  less  hateful  to  decent  people,  and 
they  hope  in  time,  to  make  it  possible  to  sell  beer  on 
Sunday,  and,  a  little  later,  to  sell  in  the  vestsbule  of 
the  church. 


94  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


''Vice  is  a  monster  of  such  frightful  mien, 

To  be  hated  needs  but  be  seen, 
But,  seen  too  oft,  familiar  with  her  face, 

We  first  endure,  then  pity,  and  then  embrace." 

Notice  the  resolution:  "We  denounce  all  unlawful"  places, 
but  a  saloon  that  is  licensed,  is  not  an  unl  awful  place, 
so  this  word  was  used  for  the  sake  of  euphony. 

Notice  again  that  the  brewers  say,  when  addressing 
the  lawmakers  WE  RECOMMEND  the  enactment  of 
such  laws  &c..  This  word  sounds  good  and  familiar, 
but  it  reminds  us  that  the  wood  is  frequently  used 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  his  messages 
to  Congress;  and  by  the  Governor  of  the  State  to  the 
Legislature;  and  is  semi-authoritative  modestly  expressed. 

How  much,  if  any  light,  does  this  incidental  use  of 
this  word  in  a  petition  to  the  Lawmakers,  give  on  the 
authority,  or  the  confidential  understanding  between  the 
brewers  and  the  lawmakers?  The  brewers  never  open 
their  mouths  to  speak  but  they  say  something. 

The  reason,  I  suppose,  the  brewers  make  so  many 
breaks  is  that  they  are  so  certain  of  their  relations  to 
the  lawmakers,  that  they  think  every  one  knows  these 
relations,  and  they  are  less  guarded. 
Another  resolution  passed  at  the  same  Convention,  reads 
as  follows:  "Resolved  that  the  brewers  of  New  Jersey, 
in  convention  assembled,  pledge  to  the  municipal 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  95 


Authorities  throughout  the  State,  our  best  efforts,  both 
as  individuals  and  as  an  organization,  to  second  their 
efforts  in  forcing  the  discontinuance  of  such  places  as 
may  be  offensive  to  the  moral  sense  of  their  respective 
communities."  This  is  another  spasm,  but  it  is  addition- 
al evidence  that  the  brewers  think  that  they  have  a 
strong  hold  upon  the  lawmakers,  and  can  influence  them 
to  make  such  laws  as  they,  the  brewers,  may  ask  for. 

No  individual  brewer  or  organization  of  brewers,  has 
any  legal  authority  to  discontinue  any  offensive  place 
that  they  do  not  own.  The  brewers  are  perfectly  safe 
in  offering  to  second  the  efforts  of  a  municipality.  They 
know  that  when  any  municipality  wishes  to  discontinue 
any  offensive  place,  it  can  do  it  without  the  help  of  the 
brewers.  The  only  way  the  brewers  could  help, would  be 
by  their  influence  with  the  authorities  higher  than  the 
authorities  of  the  municipality.  And  if  the  municipal 
authorities  could  not  prevail  upon  the  authorities  higher 
up,  and  get  the  same  help  that  the  brewers  could,  it 
shows  plainly  that  the  brewers,  as  a  class,  have  more 
power,  or  influence  over  the  lawmakers  than  the  muni- 
cipalities have. 

How  can  an  individual  carpenter  or  an  organization 
of  carpenters,  or  an  organization  of  any  other    class  of 
macufacturers  second  the  efforts  of  a   municipaity? 
They  could  not,   because    they    aro    not    brewers;  and 


96        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


if  the  brewers  can,  it  is  because  they  ARE  brewers. 

This  is  additional  evidence  that  the  brewers,  think 
they  have  more  influence  over  the  lawmakers,  than  any 
other  class  of  people,  and  a  greater  influence  than  any 
Municipality  has. 

Since  the  adoption  of  these  resolutions,  we  have  not 
heard  of  any  individual  brewer  or  any  Association  of 
brewers  doing  anything  to  close  objectionable  places. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  97 

CHAPTER  XIV 

Another  Conference. 

The  following  is  a  part  of  a  report  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  conference  of  brewers  representing  the  brew- 
ing interests  of  New  York  City:  held  on  December  7th 
1907.  "Adolphus  Busch,  the  head  of  the  great  An- 
heuser  Brewing  Company  in  St.  Louis,  epitomized  the 
thoughts  of  the  conference  when  he  said:  I  long  have 
known  that  this  business  should  be  regulated,  and  I  have 
anxiously  waited  for  the  time  to  come  when  the  public 
will  be  ready  to  assist  in  the  duty  of  regulation. 
"From  now  on  I  am  stripped  for  action  in  a  new  fight. 

"Here- to-fore,  it  has  been  a  matter  of  dollars  and 
cents:  of  fierce  competition.  From  now  on  I  will  strive 
to  the  utmost  of  my  resources  to  eliminate  the  evils 
which  have  grown  like  weeds  around  our  business. 

"I  cannot  view  with  indifference,  the  opinions  of  my 
coutrymen  concerning  an  institution  which  has  been  the 
pride  of  my  life.  "Hereafter,  if  the  eagle,  which  is  the 
sign  and  mark  of  our  house,  shall  be  found  in  any  resort 
which  is  not  orderly  and  law  abiding,  it  must  come 
down  and  I  will  join  in  any  process  for  the  elimina- 
tion of  such  resort" 

The  report  further  says  the  utterances  of  Mr.  Busch 
were  fairly  representative  of  the  sentiments  expressed 


98        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


by  the  Schlitz,  Bapst,  and  other  interests."  The  reporter 
further  says  that  no  secret  was  made  by  the  brewers 
that  the  wave  of  Prohibition,  which,  in  local  option  or 
other  forms  has  swept  over  the  South  and  is  making 
deep  inroads  in  the  North,  inspires  this  movement. 

It  gives  them  the  opportunity  they  long  have  desired, 
that  of  taking  away  their  produce  from  the  dive  keep- 
ers and  habitual  drunkards. 

The  brewers  in  this  convention  were  sick  at  heart,  and 
sad,  because  prohibition  was  making  such  gains  through- 
out the  land. 

"When  the  Devil  was  sick 

The  Devil  a  monk  would  be, 
When  the  Devil  got  well, 

A  devil-a-monk  was  he." 

Mr.  Busch  says  that  evils  have  grown  up  around  the 
business  like  weeds;  he  would  better  express  it  if  he  had 
said  evils  have  grown  up  IN  the  business  like  weeds. 
The  business  produces  nothing  but  evils;  it  is  the  beer 
that  causes  the  evils.  Mr.  Busch  could  remove  all  of 
the  evils  by  removing  his  beer. 

This  convention  was  held  about  six  year  ago,  and  Mr. 
Busch  still  has  his  coat  on,  and  he  is  still  working  for 
dollars  and  cents,  and  the  eagle,  the  "sign  of  our  house" 
still  hangs  over  the  low  dive  where  Busch's  beer  is  sold. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  99 


The  only  difference  between  the  low  dive  and  the  re- 
spectable saloon,  is  in  the  clothes  the  patrons  wear  and 
the  money  th«y  spend.  The  recent  exposures  of  crim- 
inals in  the  City  of  New  York,  show  that  the  worst  men 
are  not  patrons  of  the  low  dives,  but  are  patrons  of  the 
high  dives  which  have  the  appearance  of  respectability. 

The  dives  are  eruptions  on  the  outside  and  show  the 
condition  of  the  system,  and  the  stage  of  the  disease. 

The  character  of  the  dive  is  so  openly  bad  that  it  is 
repulsive  to  innocent  }'outh,  but  the  respectable  saloon 
covers  up  its  real  wickedness  and  entices  youth  within 
its  doors,  to  remains  as  long  as  his  money  lasts  and 
he  can  wear  good  clothes,  then  he  is  a  candidate  for 
the  low  dive.  Mr.  Busch  is  shocked  at  the  great  a- 
mount  of  evils  that  are  in  the  low  dives,  but  the  low 
dives  are  licensed  by  law  and  are  a  part  of  the  system. 

The  brewers,  alone,  could  put  an  end  to  all  of  these 
evils,  and  the  lawmakers  alone,  could  end  them;  but, 
the  lawmakers  and  the  brewers  are  branches  of  the 
same  business. 

The  brewers  are  consistent  in  what  they  do,  for  they 
work  for  their  own  business;  but  the  lawmakers  are 
supposed  to  work  for  the  good  of  those  whom  they 
represent,  but  work  in  the  interests  of  the  brewers. 

The  brewers  and  the  lawmakers  are  pleased  with  each 
other,  and  they  harmoniously  work  for  mutual  good, 


100      THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


the  lawmakers  establish  the  dives  and  the  brewers  sup- 
ply the  beer,  and  the  dives  pay  for  the  privileges  they 
enjoy. 

Is  it  possible  for  an  intelligent  person  to  understand 
how  a  business  of  such  a  character  as  the  beer  business 
can  receive  such  favorable  consideration  by  the  lawmak- 
ers unless  the  lawmakers  are  in  turn,  favored  by 
the  brewers?  Without  the  favorable  consideration  by 
the  lawmakers,  the  liquor  traffic  could  not  exist;  and  the 
business  is  so  profitable  that  those  who  are  engaged  in 
it  can  well  afford  to  be  generous.  Let  the  lawmakers  ex- 
plain and  remove  suspicion. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  101 

CHAPTER  XV 

The  Brewers'  Argument 

The  New  York  Journal  of  March  22,  1910,  published 
an  article  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  R.  D.  Sawyer,  pastor 
of  the  First  Congregational  Church  of  Ware,  Mass. 

This  article  was  the  fourth  of  a  series  of  articles  by 
the  same  author,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  "How  to 
make  a  move  for  true  Temperance." 

The  sub-title  is: 

"Arguments  for  the  Beer  Saloon  vs.  Prohibition." 

The  whole  argument  in  this  article,  is  the  same  as  is 
given  by  the  brewers  themselves.  It  would  appear  that 
the  brewers  had  sought  out  a  minister  of  the  Gospel, 
to  set  forth  the  views  of  the  brewers,  and  that  the 
brewers  have  furnished  the  argument,  and  by  securing 
the  approval  of  one  of  God's  ministers,  have  to  some 
degree,  gained  the  approval  of  their  own  conscience. 

Rev.  Sawyer  was  called  by  God,  to  bless  the  people; 
and,  behold  he  has  blessed  the  people's  enemy  and  curs- 
ed the  people  to  the  extent  of  his  influence.  Rev. 
Sawyer  says  "Prohibition  is  an  attempt  to  legislate  so 
far  in  advance  of  sentiment,  as  to  be  practically,  a  mere 
farce,  which  need  deceive  no  one,  save  those  who  are 
bound  to  see  success  in  it  any  way." 


102      THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


"But,  assuming  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  we 
could  secure  this  enforcement,  I  believe  the  argument 
for  the  saloon  better  than  those  for  prohibition." 

Rev.  Sawyer's  first  argument  is  on  Economic  grounds. 

I        He  says  "prohibition  would  deprive  of  its  investment, 

over  three  billions  of  dollars  of  capital.  It  would  deprive 

a  million  of  men  of  a  chance  to  earn  their  living  at  their 

chosen  trade. 

It  would  deprive    the  farmer  of    a  market  for   grain 
that   would    require    a    territory  equal  to  two  states  to 
7    raise.    It  would  take  away  a    revenue  of  one  hundred 
/    millions  from  the  United  States  Government." 

''Prohibition  would  be,  on  economic  grounds,  so  serious 
as  to  be  impracticable.  It  is  beer,  the  bulky  stuff,  that 
gives  work  to  builders,  teamsters,  horse-shoers,  mechan- 
ics, plumbers,  coopers,  wagon-makers,  glass-blowers, 
transportation  companies  &c.  It  is  beer  that  uses  most 
of  the  farmer's  grain".  Stopping  the  sale  of  hard  drinks 
would  cause  hardly  an  economic  ripple,  but  stoppiug 
the  sale  of  beer  would  be  an  economic  catastrophe,  un- 
der our  present  system." 

The  Poor  Man's  Club. 

The  second  reason  given  by  Rev.  Sawyer  that  the 
saloon  has  the  best  of  the  argument,  is  that  "prohibi* 
tion  does  not  fully  and  properly  consider  the  value  of 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  103 


the  saloon  as  the  poor  man,s  club,  or  as  a  social  insti- 
tution for  the  working  classes."  "Any  man  who  has 
gone  into  a  town  in  a  working  man's  garb,  with  a  week's 
beard  on  his  face,  with  little  money  in  his  pocket, 
and  no  freinds,  knows  the  saloon  as  the  working  man's 
club  room. 

Where  is  such  a  man,  in  a  strange  city,  to  go? 
The  restaurants  do  not  want  him,  the  stores  even  are  not 
open  to  him:  he  may  find  a  labor  union  or  a  socialist 
hall  where  he  can  find  KINDRED  SPIRITS  and  friends, 
but  to  most  speedily  fine  friends  of  his  OWN  class;  to 
get  information,  fellowship,  help  and  to  attend  to  nature's 
needs,  he  usually  steers  for  a  saloon." 

"Once  when  moving  from  one  parish  to  another,  I 
I  drove  a  team  over  the  road.  I  looked  a  liltle  rough, 
no  doubt.  I  had  a  bundle  to  leave  for  a  little  while,  as 
I  was  passing  through  Boston.  I  tried  several  places, 
where,  if  I  had  been  wearing  my  clerical  garb,  I  have 
no  doubt  I  could  have  left  it  in  either  of  them,  but,  in 
my  working  clothes  none  seemed  able  to  accomm  ><Jate 
me.  In  despair,  I  turned  in  to  a  saloon,  and  the  first  bar- 
keeper I  timidly  approached  replied,  "sure,  put  it  behind 
that  beer  barrel  as  long  as  you  want  to." 

"Society  has  the  right  to  say  that  the  working  man's 
social  club  shall  be  regulated  by  law,  that  it  shall  be  run 


104         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


in  a  way  least  troublesome  to  the  community,  but  it  has 
no  right  to  say  that  the  place  where  the  unwashed  and 
hard  worked  find  their  gathering  place,  shall  not  be. 
Rev.  Sawyer's  third  proposition  is 

Human  Want  Supplied. 

"Prohibition  does  not  properly  consider  the  natural 
human  longing  for  something  soothing  and  stimulating." 

"Men  in  the  long,  hard  struggle  and  upward  march 
of  the  race,  have  always  resorted  to  something  to  soothe 
the  tired  muscles  and  exhilerate  their  jaded  spirits." 

"The  race  has  not  yet  reached  the  point  where  it  will 
give  up  these  things  entire.  But,  shall  we  not  seek  to 
guide  them  to  take  that  which  is  least  harmful,  or  shall 
we  for  the  sake  of  an  idea,  drive  them  back  to  some- 
thing worse  than  beer?" 

The  Rev.  Sawyer  has  covered  the  grounds  claimed 
by  the  brewers  and  given  the  same  arguments  that  the 
brewers  give,  and  for  this  reason,  we  are  obliged 
to  give  so  much  attention  to  what  he  has  said.  But, 
while  the  arguments  are  the  brewers,'  we  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  reply  to  them  as  the  arguments  of  Rev.  Sawyer 
who  as  a  representative  of  the  Church,  advocates  the 
use  of  beer  to  improve  man's  condition. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  105 


Comments  On  The  Foregoing. 

The  foregoing  arguments  are  the  weakest  and  most 
nonsensical  arguments  ever  presented  to  substantiate 
any  cause,  or  to  establish  any  doctrine  or  theory  of  the 
least  importance.  Weak,  they  are,  but  strong  enough 
to  satisfy  the  lawmakers;  and  the  brewers  can  give  no 
stronger  arguments,  themselves.  No  lawmaker  will  try 
to  give  argument  or  reasons  for  maintaining  the  saloon. 

Mr.  Sawyer  makes  unfortunate  use  of  terms:  "The 
stimulating  effects  to  sooth  the  tired  muscles  and  exhil- 
erate  the  jaded  spirits."  U 

From  a  New  York  paper  we  quote  the  following: 
"Three  drunken  rowdies  invaded  Corpus  Christy  Church 
at  Newport,  Ky.  across  the  river  from  Cincinnati,  this 
morning,  and  by  shouting  and  brandishing  their  weapons 
caused  a  panic  among  the  several  hundreds  of  worship- 
ers at  early  Mass;  th*  congregation  stampeded,  but 
were  halted  by  the  reassuring  words  of  the  priest.  The 
men  in  the  congregation  surrounded  the  ruffians,  and 
after  a  hard  fight,  disarmed  them.  VERY  STIMU- 
LATING. 

A  man  lived  in  Metuchen,  New  Jersey  who  had  some 
money  and  a  strong  appetite  for  alcoholic  drinks,  spent 
most  of  his  time  in  a  saloon:  "The  Poor  Man's  Club." 


106         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


This  he  did  day  after  day  until  he  became  so  weak  that 
he  could  no  longer  stand  before  the  bar,  and  then  a 
chair  was  brought,  in  which  he  occupied  as  long  as  he 
was  able  to  go  to  the  saloon,  and  within  a  week  he 
died,  a  drunkard.  -  VERY  SOOTHING.  The  kind-heart- 
ed saloonist  sold  this  man  beer  day  by  day,  and  saw 
him  dying  hour  by  hour.  These  are  but  samples  of  daily 
doings  in  every  part  of  the  country  where  the  saloon 
is  allowed  to  exist;  and  this  is  a  sample  of  the  "Poor 
Man's  Club." 

Public  Sentiment. 

Rev.  Sawyer  says  the  public  sentiment  is  not  yet  ripe 
for  prohibition;  and  the  brewers  say  the  same. 

Brewers  and  lawmakers  know  much  about  the  senti- 
ment of  those  with  whom  they  associate:  they  associate 
with  each  other  and  meet  in  bar-rooms  to  exchange 
sentiments,  and  for  other  purposes.  If  they  associated 
with  Christian  workers,  as  freely  as  they  do  with  political 
parties  and  saloon  advocates,  they  would  know  more 
of  the  sentiment  of  the  people.  Now  they  know  as  much 
about  popular  sentiment  as  a  plow-boy  knows  of  navi- 
gation, but  they  should  know  better,  for  the  brewers  have 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  107 


sounded  the  alarm  and  called  upon  "every  farmer,  every 
manufacturer,  to  rise  up  and  to  claim  their  rights  and 
fight  against  the  gigantic  and  growing  evils  of  prohibition, 
which  threaten  the  Nation  with  the  greatest  panic  the 
world  ever  knew."  (from  a  large  poster  sent  out  by  the 
U.  S.  Brewers'  Association).  The  lawmakers  are  not 
sincere  when  they  say  that  public  sentiment  is  not  ripe 
for  prohibition,  or  they  would  not  hesitate  to  grant  Lo- 
cal Option,  which  would  be  a  test  of  public  sentiment. 

"Popular  sentiment"  is  an  argument  of  last  resort. 

A  few  days  ago,  since  he  became  President  of  the 
United  States,  Mr.  Wilson,  while  attending  to  the  po- 
litical affairs  of  New  Jersey,  in  speaking  on  the  'Jury 
Reform'  bill,  which  was  under  consideratian  by  the  Leg- 
islature, said:  "I  am  quite  sure  that  the  bill  meets  with 
popular  favor  throughout  the  state."  This  is  easily  said 
if  one  says  it  quickly,  but  the  truth  is  that  not  more 
than  ten  per  cent  of  the  people  knew  at  the  time,  that 
such  a  bill  was  being  considered,  and  not  more  than 
five  per  cent  knew  what  the  bill  was;  yet,  Mr.  Wilson 
was  quite  sure  that  it  met  with  popular  favor. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  laws  enacted  by  the 
legislature  are  not  known  to  the  majority  of  the  people 
until  long  after  they  are  passed,  and  then  comment  is 
useless  and,  then,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  sentiment 


108        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


of  the  people  is  not  known.  Many  laws  are  made  that 
are  offensive  to  the  people,  and  the  sentiment  of  the 
people  is  not  considered.  Lawmakers  and  executive  offi- 
cer are  apt  to  consider  the  sentiments  of  their  own  party, 
as  the  sentiments  of  the  people;  some  even  go  so  far 
as  to  consider  their  own  wishes,  as  the  sentiment  of 
the  people.  Popular  sentiment,  a^  an  argument  has  no 
weight,  every  question  stands  on  its  own  merit. 

If  popular  sentiment  should  be  considered  a  guide  to 
legislation,  the  lawmakers  would  be  obliged  to  make  law 
to  suit  the  majority,  whether  the  laws  were  wicked,  or 
good;  and  if  the  majority  wished  to  steal,  the  laws  should 
be  made  to  legalize  theft.  In  a  community  where  the 
majority  are  in  favor  of  evil,  there  is  greater  need  of 
laws  to  restrain  evil  doers;  the  majority  are  often  wrong, 
as  in  the  case  of  our  Saviour,  who  had  but  few  friends. 

The  public  sentiment  caused  His  crcifiction. 

We  suppose  Rev.  Sawyer  got  his  idea  of  popular 
sentiment  from  the  "kindred  spirits"  in  the  saloon. 

If  we  canvass  the  Borough  of  Metuchen,  the  place 
where  I  live,  with  four  saloons,  seven  churches,  several 
temperance  societies  and  other  philanthropic  societies; 
we  find  a  very  large  majority  against  the  saloon. 

The  application  of  D.  C.  Whalen,  spoken  of  elewhere 
in  this  book,  had  thirty  signers,  two  of  whom  were  his 
father  and  his  brother,  while  the  remonstrance  had 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  109 


had  eighty-one  signers,  but  Whalen  got  his  license. 

This  shows  how  much  popular  sentiment  is  worth 
when  it  comes  to  saloons. 

Speaking  for  the  brewers,  Rev.  Sawyer  says:  "Prohi- 
bition would  be,  on  economic  grounds,  so  serious  a 
matter  as  to  be  impossible." 

When  one  wishes  to  know  the  nature  of  any  substance, 
either  of  the  vegetable  or  of  the  mineral  kingdom,  he 
sends  a  sample,  a  very  small  portion  to  the  chemist  for 
analysis;  he  need  not  send  mountains  of  ore;  but  a  small 
sample.  Or  if  he  wishes  to  know  the  elements  of  his  soil, 
he  need  not  send  his  whole  farm.  Following  this  pro- 
cedure, we  will  analyze  one  drunkard,  and  find  what  the 
economic  effect  would  be  on  him,  or  on  the  communi- 
ty, or  upon  the  nation,  provided  a  drunkard  should  by 
his  own  volition,  suddenly  become  a  temperance  man. 

This  process  is  fair,  for  if  general  and  total  prohibi- 
/  tion  would  ruin  the  country,  certainly  the  prohibition  of 
one  man  would  have  a  proportionate  effect  on  the 
Country.  A  drunkard  is  an  utter  destruction  of  God's 
crowning  work,  man.  He  has  fallen  from  his  high  es- 
tate and  has  blotted  out  of  his  life  the  image  of  his 
Maker,  and  is  only  a  stranded  hulk,  not  able  to  help 
himself  or  any  one  else.  What  economic  good  is  such 
a  man,  except  to  drink  a  little  more  beer  as  it  is  suppli- 
ed to  him  by  some  one  who  has  money  ? 


110       THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


How  much  benefit  is  a  dead  man  who  needs  alcohol 
to  preserve  his  flesh?  How  much  does  the  process  of 
killing  a  man  by  feeding  beer  to  him,  add  to  the  wealth 
of  the  country?  Shame  on  the  man  or  class  of  men  who 
say  that  the  financial  stability  of  our  country  depends 
upon  the  number  of  drunkards  we  make,  and  the  amount 
beer  they  drink.  The  Government  should  be  ashamed 
to  take  revenue  from  injured  women  and  children;  for 
the  revenue  is  paid  by  the  drinkers,  and  not  by  the  brew- 
ers, and  the  drinkers  rob  their  families  to  pay  it. 

By  asking  support  of  the  brewers,  the  Government 
furnishes  the  brewers  their  strongest  argument  that  they 
should  be  allowed  to  exist.  The  Rev.  Sawyer  preaches 
to  sinners  to  save  their  souls,  and  lends  his  influence  to 
maintain  the  saloon  that  destroys  men's  souls;  and  says 
that  the  saloon  is  better  than  prohibition,  which  means 
that  it  is  better  to  drink  alcoholic  drinks  than  not  to 
drink. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  subject,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
consider  the  process  or  various  stages  of  his  demoraliza- 
tion, but  to  confine  our  observations  to  the  financial 
effects  of  the  beer  traffic  on  the  man  who  drinks 
and  on  the  community.  We  must  assume  that  the  man 
at  .first,  was  upright,  otherwise  we  must  confess  that 
saloons  were  established  and  mantained  for  men  who 
are  not  upright. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  111 


In  the  first  drink  the  young  man  takes,  he  cuts  the 
bond  that  holds  him  to  perfect  manhood,  and  takes  his 
first  step  away  from  himself  and  enters  the  path  that 
leads  to  the  drnkard's  grave.  From  day  to  day,  he  gets 
farther  and  farther  away  from  himself,  and  is  nearer 
to  his  destruction.  Conscience,  respectability,  ambition, 
parental  love  and  social  friendship:  all  these  several 
bonds  that  held  him  at  first,  have  been  broken,  and  he 
is  constantly  drawn  by  evil  associates,  and  appetite,  like 
the  relentless  forcee  of  gravity,  do  \vn  and  down  with 
ever  increasing  momentum.  This  change  from  the  up- 
right man  to  the  drunkard,  was  not  accomplished  with- 
out great  loss.  Tine  is  money,  and  must  be  so  consid- 
ered in  economics.  The  greater  part  of  a  human  life 
is  wasted  and  no  one  is  benefited  by  his  loss.  He  spends 
his  money  and  his  life,  and  the  brewer  and  the  saloon- 
ist  are  benefited;  the  man  loses  life  and  soul. 
In  consequence  of  the  man's  habits,  his  wife  and  child- 
ren suffer  for  lack  of  the  necessities  of  life,  and  are 
prevented  from  taking  their  places  in  the  social  world 
-  which  they  otherwise  would. 

1     Is  it  economy  that  a  whole  family  should   suffer,   that, 
brewers  may  get  rich? 

We  have  considered  only  one  man  against  one  rum- 
seller,  but  there  are  many  drunkards,  and  many  fam- 
ilies to  one  saloonist.  And  whatever  is  true  of  one 


112        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


drunkard  is  true  of  all.  Is  it  economy  for,  say  fifty  to 
lose  all,  that  one  soloonist  may  get  rich  ?  Fifty  upright 
men  ruined,  and  fifty  families  made  to  suffer,  that  one 
rumseller  may  prosper?  Is  it  economy  that  an  indus- 
trious young  man  should  become  an  idle  drunkard  for 
the  small  amount  of  revenue  he  pays  to  the  Govern- 
ment ?  The  Government  takes  revenue  on  crime. 

We  read  in  the  New  York  Tribune  of  May  5th  1914, 
that  "The  Senate  dipped  its  fingers  into  the  bowl  of 
righteousness  and  washed  them  of  Mr.  Rockefeller's 
money,  offered  to  help  carry  on  farm  demonstration 
work  in  different  parts  of  the  country;  because  the  blood 
of  women  and  children  was  on  the  hands  of  his  employes. 
According  to  the  law  of  progression,  the  accumulation 
of  great  wealth,  is  the  natural  result  of  industry  and  effi 
ciency;  and  success  in  business  should  not  be  attributed 
to  unfair  means.  But,  while  the  Senate  has  its  "fingers 
dipped  in  the  bowl  of  righteousness,"  it  would  be  in 
order  to  refuse  to  accept  another  dollar  of  revenue 
from  a  business  that  corrupts  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
men,  and  brings  sorrow  to  thousands  of  innocent  women 
children. 

Rev.  Sawyer  says  prohibition  would  rob  of  its  invest- 
ment over  three  billions  of  capital  the  matter  stands 
on  its  merits:  if  the  business  is  evil  the  greater  amount 
invested,  the  more  harm  is  done. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  113 


If  the  saloon  business  is  evil,  the  greater  the  magni- 
tude, the  greater  the  need  of  abolishing  it. 

Gamblers  have  as  good  reason  to  be  left  alone  in  the 
enjoyment  of  their  business,  because  they  have  much 
money  invested  in  gambling  outfits;  pirates  may  have 
much  money  invested  in  ships  and  guns,  and  if  their 
business  should  be  prohibited,  many  would  be  ''depriv- 
ed of  the  privilege  of  earning  a  living  at  their  chosen 
trade"  If  this  argument  is  good  now,  it  will  become 
stronger  and  stronger  as  time  goes  on,  for,  all  the  mon- 
ey the  brewers  make,  they  use  to  extend  their  business: 
like  the  spiier  it  spins  its  web-trap  to  catch  flies  which 
it  eats  to  spin  more  webs  to  catch  more  victems.  The 
brewers  would  make  the  business  perpetual.  If  there 
is  any  force  in  this  argument,  it  certainly  stands  temper- 
ance workers  in  hand  to  take  firmer  grasp  and  throttle 
the  monster  before  it  grtws  larger  and  stronger. 

Th«  brewers  have  over  estimated  their  capital,  and  in 
making  their  estimates  count  the  licenses  they  hold  for 
the  saloonists  who  have  not  the  required  amount  of  cash 
to  pay  for  their  licenses.  These  licenses  are  considered 
inventments  in  the  business,  whereas  it  is  only  money 
loaned,  and  when  paid  it  is  available  surplus  capital, 
We  quote  from  a  Newark  paper,  a  commment  which  re- 
lates to  this  subject,  "the  investment  in  licenses."  The 
comment  is  as  follows:  "It  is  a  fair  estimate  that  the 


114       THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


holding  down  of  saloon  license  to  four  hundred 
dollars  a  year  in  Newark  causes  the  municipal  treasury 
to  lose  more  than  one-hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year. 

Before  the  Houssling  administration  began  opera- 
tions, Excise  Commissioners  appointed  by  Court,  set 
the  fee  at  five-hundred  dollars.  This  reduction  was 
brought  about  by  the  INFLUENCE  OF  BREWERS 
WHO  OWN  MORE  THAN  HALF  OF  THE  SA- 
LOONS IN  NEWARK. 

Mr.  Sawyer  says  "prohibition  would  deprive  a  million 
of  men  of  earniug  their  living  at  their  chosen  trade." 

In  this  estimate  saloonists  are  counted  in  the  number 
engaged  at  their  chosen  trade.  In  my  own  town  there 
are,  counting  proprietors  and  bar-tenders,  eight  men  en- 
gaged in  the  business, who  Anight  be  thrown  out  of  employ- 
ment if  prohibition  prevailed,  but  there  are  many  times 
that  number  thrown  out  of  work  because  of  the  saloons 
in  the  Borough.  It  would  be  much  better  for  the 
Borough  if  the  saloonists  were  all  out  of  their  present 
employment,  and  it  would  be  much  better  for  the  idle 
victims  if  the  saloons  were  out  of  existence. 
Abolish  the  saloons  and  the  present  victims  would  soon 
become  so  prosperous  that  they  could  furnish  employ- 
ment to  all  bar-tenders  and  saloonists  who  might  be 
thrown  out  by  prohibition;  and  they  would  have  the 
pleasure  of  earning  an  honest  living. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  115 


Even  if  prohibition  would  throw  the  saloonist  out  of 
employment  and  he  should  not  be  able  to  find  other 
employment,  and  in  consequence,  he  and  his  family  be 
obliged  to  subsist  on  charity,  it  would  be  better  than 
that  the  many  drunkards  he  makes  should  suffer  in 
like  manner.  The  argument  of  Rev.  Sawyer  in  this  re- 
spect applies  to  anything  on  earth,  however  wrong  it 
may  be. 

But  suppose  prohibition  should  prevail,  and  all  now 
engaged  in  the  business,  brewers  and  saloonists  should 
be  thrown  out  of  employment  until  they  die,  it  would 
be  only  a  few  years  when  all  would  b«  dead  and  there 
would  be  no  more  to  suffer  for  lack  of  occupation  in 
this  line  of  business:  but  reverse  these  conditions;  let 
those  engaged  in  the  baar  business,  continue,  and  all 
the  present  great  ar  ny  of  suffering  victims  would  die, 
and  this  class  would  perpetuate  itself.  In  the  one  case 
the  abolition  of  the  saloon  might  injure  the  few  until 
death,  which  would  end  the  suffering  from  this  cause: 
while  a  continuance  of  the  saloon  would  cause  the  suffer- 
ing of  many  until  death,  and  a  perpetuation  of  the  same 
kind  of  suffering.  The  above  argument  applies  only  if 
worse  comes  to  worst.  Those  employed  in  the  beer 
business,  both  boewers  and  saloonists,  are  capable  of 
placing  themselves  in  other  positions  if  prohibition  de- 
prived them  of  their  present  chosen  employment. 


116      THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


This  argument  presented  by  the  brewers  through  Rev. 
Sawyer  is  not  applicable  to  the  saloon  question  at  all, 
for  it  is  a  question  of  right  and  wrong;  and  if  wrong, 
no  matter  how  many  persons  are  engaged  in  the  business, 
they  should  be  thrown  out.  Economic  arguments  do 
not  apply  to  questions  of  right  and  wrong. 

If  it  is  right  for  a  man  to  continue  in  a  wicked  busi- 
ness because  he  is  in  it,  and  because  he  has  much  mon- 
ey invested  in  the  business,  it  is  also  right  for  any  one 
to  enter  into  a  wicked  business  provided  he  has  a  large 
amount  of  money  to  invest.  If  a  man  is  doing  wrong, 
he  has  ,no  more  right  to  continue  doing  the  wrong, 
than  another  has  to  begin  to  do  wrong. 

Saloons  Throw  Men  Out  of  Employment. 

Because  of  the  evil  effects  of  the  saloon  business,  hun- 
dreds of  men  are  thrown  out  of  business,  mostly  young 
men,  and  have  made  themselves  ineligible  to  fill  posi- 
tions of  trust,  and  have  cut  themselves  off  from  the 
most  desirable  opportunities  a  young  man  can  have,  and 
they  must  be  satisfied  to  act  subordinate  parts  in  life. 

Business  men  have  come  to  the  conclusion  from  ob- 
servation they  have  made,  of  the  effects  of  alcoholic 
drinks  that  it  is  unsafe  to  employ  any  person  who  drinks 
alcoholic  liquors  even  to  a  moderate  degree. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


Railroads  and  carrying  companies  whose  business,  as 
regulated  by  laws  which  make  them  responsible  for 
the  safety  of  their  patrons,  have  discharged  thousands  or 
young  men  because  of  their  habits  of  drinking,  and  all 
of  these  young  men  have  made  themselves  ineligible 
for  positions  in  this  line  of  labor. 

The  saloons  are  making  havoc  among  men,  yet  the 
lawmakers  perpetuate  the  saloons,  and  Rev.  Sawyer 
says  "the  saloons  have  the  best  of  the  argument  as  a- 
gainst  prohibition,  on  economic  grounds.  On  this  point 
we  give  the  opinion  of  a  noted  Doctor,  T.  S.  Crothers: 
"A  vacancy  occurred  in  a  banking  house  in  New  York 
City.  The  salary  was  large  and  the  position  important. 

A  young  man  from  an  inland  city,  with  influential 
friends  was  suggested  as  a  proper  person  to  fill  the  place. 

A  number  of  friends  united  in  the  warmest  recom- 
mendations of  his  character  and  ability.  Letters  recom- 
mending him  were  sent  to  the  bank,  and  he  received  a 
special  request  to  call  in  to  see  the  President.  He  was 
received  with  affability:  and  after  a  few  minutes  of  con- 
versation was  told  that  other  arrangements  had  been 
made  and  the  place  was  about  to  be  given  to  another. 

He  was  shocked  beyond  measure,  and  went  home 
greatly  dissappointed.  Intimate  friends  of  the  Presi- 
dent, who  had  warmly  recommended  him,  wrote  in- 
quiring why  the  place  had  been  given  to  another  man. 


118      THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


The  answer  came  back:  "we  never  employ  men  in  our 
bank  who  come  to  us  with  alcoholic  breaths." 

"Then  it  dawned  on  him  that,  feeling  nervous  before 
calling  on  the  president,  the  young  man  had  taken  a 
glass  of  wine,  supposing  that  it  would  steady  his  nerves 
and  make  him  more  presentable." 
''This  instance,"  continues  the  docter,  "may  be  dupli- 
cated in  business  circles  and  shows  clearly  that  business 
men  recognize  total  abstinance  as  one  of  the  essentials 
for  good  work  in  all  departments."  "The  best  brains, 
the  clearest  intellect  and  the  most  perfect  command  of 
the  faculties,  are  required  in  the  work  of  to-day,  and 
any  thing  less  than  this  is  inviting  disaster.  There  is  no 
theory  in  this  or  sentiment.  It  is  hard,  bitter  experience 
which  the  business  world  is  learning  and  learning  rap- 
idly. Business,  like  science  has  no  cnncern  with  tradi- 
tions of  the  food  and  stimulant  value  of  alcohol." 

Business  men  of  all  classes  and  grades  condemn  the 
the  saloon,  and  doctors  of  high  standing  condemn  the 
u»»e  of  alcoholic  drinks,  ministers  of  the  Gospel  also 
cndemn  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  as  a  hindrance  to 
the  developement  of  individual  character,  and  to  the 
growth  of  Christianity.  Even  some  saloons  will  not  em- 
ploy a  bartender  unless  he  is  a  total  abstainer. 

A  noted  surgeon  was  called  to  attend  a  man  who 
had  met  with  an  accident,  but  not  seriously  injured. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT          119 


The  writer  had  occasion  to  call  upon  the  injured  man, 
and  also  to  see  the  surgeon.  The  surgeon  said  that 
the  man's  injuries  were  not  necessarily  dangerous,  but 
the  man  was  in  the  habit  of  drinking  beer  and  it  was 
impossible  to  tell  how  the  habit  might  aggravate  the  inju- 
ries. The  surgeon  said  that  he  dreaded  to  take  a  case 
of  a  person  injured  so  that  an  operation  was  necessary, 
if  the  injured  person  was  a  user  of  alcohol  to  any  degree. 

This  surgeon  was  not  actively  interested  in  prohibi- 
tion, but  spoke  from  a  professional  standpoint,  and 
without  reference  to  saloons.  Every  one  can  see  the 
evils  of  the  saloon  except  the  lawmakers  and  the  brewers. 

The  Newspapers  have  been  full  of  comments  up- 
on the  epidemic  of  fires.  Investigation  has  shown  that 
many  of  the  fires  have  been  caused  by  wicked  persons 
for  ths  purpose  of  obtaining  insurance.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  careless  handling  of  fire  by  helpless 
or  quarrelsome  intoxicated  persons  caused  many  fires 
and  the  destruction  of  millions  of  dollars  worth  of  prop- 
erty, all  of  which  is  chargable  to  alcoholic  drinks. 

We  quote  from  St.  Petersburg  report  just  published 
by  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  to  the  effect  that  from 
1895  to  1910  there  were  more  than  a  million  fires  in 
European  Russia,  over  two  millions  eight-hundred  houses 
destroyed,  and  damage  to  the  amount  of  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  millions  of  dollars. 


The  chief  cause  of  the  epidemic  according  to  official 
reports,  is  the  careless  handling  of  fires,  WHICH  IS 
CONNECTED  WITH  THE  INCREASE  OF  DRUNK- 
ENESS.  And  yet  Rev.  Sawyer,  and  the  brewers  say 
that  on  economic  grounds,  the  saloons  have  the  best  of 
the  argument. 

A  Market  For  Grain. 

Rev.  Sawyer,  says  practical  prohibition,  would  deprive 
the  farmer  of  a  market  for  grain  that  would  require  a 
territory  equal  to  two  states  to  supply  the  required  a- 
mount.  Let  us  take  this  statement  as  the  truth.  We  be- 
lieve much  of  the  grain  of  the  country  is  diverted 
from  its  legitimate  use  and  that  this  large  portion  is 
consumed  entirely  by  beer  drinkers.  Allowing  these 
same  drinkers  to  eat  their  portion  of  grain  that  is  not 
used  for  beer,  and  they  have  much  more  than  their 
share  of  the  grain  products.  They  drink  a  large  por- 
tion in  the  form  of  beer,  and  eat  their  portion  of  bread. 

This  great  wast«  of  grain  makes  the  loaf  of  bread 
smaller,  and  every  bread  eater  is  affected,  and  this  is 
one  cause  of  the  high  cost  of  living. 

If  the  brewers  did  not  use  so  much  grain,  the  farmer 
would  find  market  for  all  of  his  grain,  and  the  drunk- 
ard's family  would  be  well  fed. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT         121 


And  if  the  father    did  not    drink  beer  he  would  be 
in  condition  to  buy  as  much  as  his  family  would  need. 
But    this  would   deprive    the  Government  of  revenue, 
and  the  brewers  of  their  gains. 


122        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


An  Incident  In  Rev.  Sawyer's  Life. 

Rev.  Sawyer,  says  prohibition  does  not  properly  value 
the  saloon  as  a  social  institution  for  the  working  classes. 

He  says  the  saloon  is  the  working  man's  club,  and 
continues:  "any  man  who  has  gone  into  a  town  in  a  work- 
ing man's  garb  with  a  week's  beard  on  his  face,  with 
little  money  in  his  pocket  and  no  friends,  knows  the 
saloon  as  the  worker's  club." 

We  mention  this  in  connection  with  Rev.  Sawyer's  argu- 
ment, but  refrain  from  comment  on  it,  as  we  will  cover 
these  points  in  another  article,  and  to  our  thinking,  it 
will  be  more  appropriate  in  that  article  than  in  this,  as 
it  will  be  in  reply  to  the  same  arguments  by  a  man  high- 
er up  in  ecclesiastical  standing.  We  will,  however,  notice 
an  incident  in  the  life  of  Rev.  Sawyer  that  brought  him 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  saloon  is  the  working  man's 
club.  This  incident  is  important  as  an  argument  for  the 
reason  that  it  is  based  on  fact,  while  the  balance  of  his 
argument  is  only  theory.  It  would  appear  that  pre- 
vious to  this  incident  Rev.  Sawyer  had  no  knowledge  of 
the  saloon,  or  he  would  not  have  looked  so  long  for  a 
place  to  leave  his  bundle;  nor  would  he  have  ''timidly 
approached  the  saloon."  He  says  that  once  when  he 
was  moving  from  one  parish  to  another,  he  drove  a 
team  over  the  road  and  he  looked  a  little  rough; 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT          123 


he  had  a  bundle  to  leave  for  a  little  while  as  he  was 
passing  through  Boston,  and  tried  several  places,  and 
found  none  and  he  became  discouraged  and  at  last  he 
went  into  a  saloon,  where  he  found  a  place  to  leave  his 
bundle.  In  the  course  of  business  we  have  visited 
saloons  and  have  made  observations  which  have  en- 
abled us  to  know  something  of  the  customs  and  practice 
of  the  saloon.  Any  man  is  welcome  in  a  saloon,  no 
matter  how  long  since  he  shaved,  or  how  poor  his  clothes 
are,  provided  he  drinks  beer. 

Every  saloon  has  its  slop-jars  or  loungers,  with  no 
money,  but  a  good  appetite,  and  always  ready  to  drink 
when  some  one  with  money  and  generosity  offers  to 
treat,  and  it  makes  no  difference  to  the  saloonist  who 
pays  for  the  beer  nor  whose  stomach  it  goes  into. 

I  have  also  noticed  that  a  man  having  a  bundle  to  be 
placed  in  safe  keeping,  may  have  it  placed  behind  a 
beer  barrel  in  a  saloon,  as  it.  is  evidence  that  the  man 
who  leaves  it  will  call  again  to  get  it,  and  is  security  for 
what  the  owner  may  order. 

I  have  also  observed  that  a  man  seldom  asks  a  favor 
of  a  saloonist  without  first  asking  for  something  to  drink, 
and  it  is  quite  natural  to  ask  for  another  drink  if  the 
man  thinks  that  the  saloon  is  better  than  prohibiton. 

I  have  further  observed  that  the  man  who  goes  into 
a  saloon  must  make  his  visit  short  if  he  has  no  business, 


or  does  not  pay  for  drinks  or  cigars,  or   receive  treats 
from  others. 

Human  Longing. 


Rev.  Sawyer's  third  proposition  is  that  "Prohibition 
does  not  properly  consider  the  natural  human  longing 
for  something  soothing  and  stimulating."  "Of  all 
devices  men  have  sought  out,  beer  is  the  least  harmful 
to  the  race." 

To  prove  this  proposition  it  necessary  to  admit  that  the 
use  of  alcoholic  drinks  by  generation  after  generation, 
has  a  hereditary  effect  upon  the  present  generation. 

If  this  be  true,  it  is  high  time  that  some  thing  should 
be  done  to  check  the  use  of  alcohol,  or  the  hered- 
itary longing  will  be  intensified  in  the  next  generation, 
and  it  will  be  only  a  few  generations  before  our  nation 
will  be  a  nation  of  drunkards,  weak  minded  and  de- 
generate. 

Rev.  Sawyer,  in  comparing  beer  with  other  drinks, 
makes  his  comparison  diminutively,  and  make  the  harm- 
fulness  of  beer  the  least  of  all  alcoholic  drinks;  but  re- 
versing the  form  of  comparison,  he  makes  beer  POS- 
ITIVELY harmful.  The  brewers,  all  in  like  manner, 
admit  that  beer  is  harmful. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT        125 


If  this  is  true,  he  has  given  a  strong  argument 
against  the  saloon. 

Saloons  are  licensed,  not  only  to  sell  beer,  but  strong- 
er liquors,  and  it  is  only  a  matter  of  taste  or  choice 
what  a  man  will  drink  when  he  has  both,  beer  and 
stronger  liquors  to  choose  from. 

Rev.  Sawyer,  in  his  arguments,  extols  the  merits 
of  beer;  and  on  its  merits  he  has  concluded  that  the 
saloon,  as  against  prohibition,  has  the  best  of  the  ar- 
gument, and  has  overlooked  stronger  drinks  that  are 
sold  in  the  saloon  which  make  the  saloon  an  unfit  place 
for  the  poor  man's  club. 

Before  a  man  can  honestly  argue  the  harmlessness 
of  the  saloon  on  the  merits  of  beer,  he  must  remove 
from  the  saloon,  all  stronger  drinks.  The  brewers  con- 
demn all  stronger  liquors,  yet  they  maintain  the  saloon 
with  all  the  evils  that  are  caused  by  stronger  drinks. 

Rev.  Sawyer  does  not  say  whether  this  longing  of  the 
human  race  is  caused  by  the  use  of  beer  or  by  stronger 
drinks;  but  if  caused  by  stronger  drinks,  we  may  be 
sure  that  beer  will  not  satisfy  that  longing,  if  he  drinks 
it  in  a  saloon  where  stronger  drinks  are  to  be  had. 

But  beer  will  give  a  desire  for    stronger  liquors. 

We  agree  with  Rev.  Sawyer  in  his  statement  that 
the  effects  of  drinking  habits  of  the  parents  will  be 
seen,  in  some  form  or  another,  in  their  offspring, 


126        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


but  not  so  much  in  the  appetite  as  in  mental  and  physic- 
al defects.  We  do  not  believe  that  one  boy  in  a  hundred 
has  a  natural  appetite  for  alcoholic  drinks,  or  that  he 
has  a  natural  longing  for  something  soothing  or  stim- 
ulating. He  may  be  physically  waak  and  defective  in 
power  to  resist  temptation  which  causes  him  to  yield 
to  influences  and  desire  for  pleasure,  which  might  be 
heredity,  but  not  appetite. 

Alcohol  will  remain  in  the  body  of  him  who  drinks, 
a  long  rime,  but  it  does  not  seem  possible  that  it  should 
impart  to  the  unborn  babe,  an  appetite  for  alcohol  un- 
less it  is  through  intemperate  habits  of  the  mother. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  argument  is  all  against  the  sa- 
loon. If  the  saloons  are  all  abolished  and  no  one  per- 
mitted to  sell,  the  boys  of  this  generation  will  have  no 
chance  to  indulge  in  drinking,  and  in  the  next  generation 
the  chain  of  heredity  will  be  broken,  and  from  that 
time  on,  the  reasons  advanced  by  Rev.  Sawyer  will  not 
be  applicable  to  the  new  conditions.  So,  if  it  be  true 
that  the  human  race  has  a  longing  for  something 
"soothing  and  stimulating''  as  Rev.  Sawyer  says,  it  is 
very  conclusive  argument  that  the  saloon  should  be  a- 
bolished 

We  have  often  heard  men  say  "some  men  have  al- 
ways drank  and  they  always  will,"  which  is  in  substance 
and  meaning  the  same  as  Rev.  Sawyer's  statement 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT        127 


that  men  hsve  a  longing  for  something  stimulating,  but 
there  is  no  logic  or  truth  in  either  proposition. 

Boys,  as  a  rule,  begin  their  habit  of  drinking,  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  to  twenty  and  continue  until  they  die, 
unless  they  reform;  every  individual  begins  his  own 
course  and  ends  it.  There  is  no  connection,  one  with 
the  other,  nor  with  those  who  have  lived  before  him. 

The  only  connection  between  those  who  have  gone 
before  us  and  ourselves,  is  the  saloon,  which  those  who 
who  have  gone  before  have  established  to  curse  us. 

Boys  are  initiated  into  the  ways  of  the  saloon,  through 
the  influence  of  their  friends  who  have,  themselves, 
been  initiated;  so  the  saloons  and  social  influence  have 
been  perpetuated  from  generation  to  generation. 

The  same  bar,  the  same  strong  drinks,  the  same  mix- 
ed conditions,  the  same  influences,  and  temptations 
have  existed  for  generations.  One  of  the  most  danger- 
ous influences  that  causes  a  young  man  to  begin  a  ca- 
rear  in  the  bar-room,  is  the  teachings  of  ministers  of  the 
Gospel  who  say  that  the  saloon,  with  all  of  its  evils,  is 
better  than  prohibition.  We  cannot  give  further  atten- 
tion to  Rev.  Sawyer's  arguments  in  defence  of  the  sa- 
loon, but  if  we  failed  to  notice  this,  the  chief  argument 
of  the  brewers,  we  might  be  misunderstood,  that  we  did 
not  because  we  could  not  answer  them. 


128     THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


If  saloons  are  things  of  evil,  a  curse  to  the  land,  a 
destroyer  of  men's  bodies  and  souls,  there  is  no  argu- 
ment that  has  a  grain  of  weight  in  favor  of  them. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Hypocrisy  of  Prohibition. 

We  regret  that  it  becomes  necessary  to  use  the  name 
of  one  who  has  departed  this  life  leaving  behind  him  a 
great  name;  a  man  who  occupied  a  high  position  in  the 
Church. 

"Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord,  for  they 
rest  from  their  labor  and  their  works  do  follew  them.'' 

It  is  possible  for  a  man  to  live  a  devout,  Christian 
life  and  do  much  good,  and  so  far  as  the  heart  is  con- 
cerned, live  a  perfect  life,  and  yet  be  in  error  on  mat- 
ters of  judgment. 

Because  Bishop  Potter  was  a  man  of  high  intellectu- 
al and  moral  character,  and  had  great  influence,  and 
was  so  well  known,  we  are  obliged  to  use  his  name  in 
replying  to  his  arguments  which,  however  well  meant, 
gave  great  comfort  and  encouragement  to  the  enemy, 
the  brewers  and  saloonists.  These  arguments  have  been 
echoed  throughout  the  camps  of  the  enemy  and  have 
caused  great  rejoicing  because  a  great  leader  in  the 
Church  "was  with  them." 

In  the  estimation  of  the  brewers,  the  importance  of 
of  the  argument  is  in  the  greatness  of  the  author,  and 
it  is  for  this  reason  we  are  obliged  to  reply  to  it. 

These  same  sentiments  expressed   by  Bishop  Potter, 


130        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


have  been  expressed  by  the  brewers  and  the  saloonists 
but  have  lacked  the  force  of  high  authority.  We  quote 
New  York  Sun  of  May  27th,  1909.  "Bishop  Henry  C. 
Potter,  after  having  been  introduced  to  the  congregation 
preached  on  the  futility  of  attempting  t«  reform  society 
by  legal  enactments".  The  bishop  then  continued:  ''How 
then  shall  we  bring  to  pass  the  results  which  we  all 
desire  ?  Shall  we  do  it  by  new  laws  ?  Can  you  do 
it  by  the  attempt  to  suppress  absolutely  the  vice  which 
you  wish  to  conquer  ?  For  example,  what  has  prohibi- 
tion done  for  the  suppression  of  intemperance, 
in  those  states  where  prohibition  has  been  attempted?" 

"I  recall  crossing  Lake  Champlain  from  Vermont  to 
New  York  and  back  in  the  Summer,  and  I  was  often 
struck  by  the  large  number  of  drunken  men  who  sailed 
on  the  boat  in  the  afternoon,  from  the  New  York  to 
to  the  Vermont  side  of  the  harbor.  In  other  words,  the 
prohibition  laws  of  Vermont  made  THE  SALE  OF 
LIQUOR  IMPOSSIBLE  and  so  these  men  crossed  to 
New  York  and  sailed  home  drunk." 

The  evils  also  remain  in  those  prohibition  states  un- 
suppressed,  and,  alas  that  it  should  be  said,  the  effect 
has  been  in  some  states  to  change  a  commonwealth  of 
drunkards  to  a  commonwealth  of  hypocrisy." 
I  understand  the  word  hypocrisy,  to  mean  the  pretense 
to  do,  or  to  be  what  one  does  not,  or  is  not. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  131 

Bishop  Potter  says  it    was  impossible  to  obtain  liquor 
because  the  law  was  against  its  sale 

If  this  is  true  there  certainly  was  no  hypocrisy,  and 
the  Bishop's  illustration  disproves  his  statement.  The 
State  of  Vermont  did  not  pretend  to  prevent  men  from 
drinking  in  New  York;  it  only  tried  to  prevent  the  sale 
of  liquor  in  the  State  of  Vermont;  and,  as  bishop  Potter 
says,  it  was  impossible  to  get  liquor  in  Vermont,  there 
certainly  was  no  hypocrisy.  If  New  York  had  passed 
prhibition  laws  and  enforced  them,  as  Vermont  did 
these  thirsty  men  would  have  found  it  more  difficult  to 
get  drinks  on  Sunday.  We  do  not  quite  understand 
how  bishop  Potter  could  have  made  such  a  blunder. 

The  bishop  also  seconds  the  claims  of  the  brewers,  and 
advocates  the  saloon,  when  at  another  time,  he  called 
the  saloon  the  "Poor  Man's  Club.",!  am  not  familiar  with 
rich  man's  club,  but  I  do  know  something  of  the  saloon. 

If  bishop  Potter  knows  the  character  of  both,  the 
saloon  and  the  rich  man's  club,  he  must  take  one  of 
two  propositions:  either  the  rich  man's  club  is  as  bad  as 
the  saloon,  or  the  poor  man  is  not  worthy  of  as  good 
a  club  as  the  rich  man  is.  The  bishop  must  have  an 
exalted  opinion  of  the  saloon  or  a  degraded  opinion  of 
the  poor  man.  If  the  rich  man's  club  is  as  bad  as  the 
saloon,  it  ought  to  be  abolished.  The  term  "Club"  de- 
notes nothing.  Thieves  and  Thugs  have  clubs. 


132      THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


We  have  the  sentiments  of  two  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel who  are  strong  advocates  of  the  saloon,  both  have 
used  the  same  arguments  that  the  brewers  use  and  both 
have  failed  to  speak  one  word  against  the  saloon,  or  of 
the  evil  results  of  drinking  beer.  Rev.  Sawyer  did 
mention  one  good  thing  in  favor  of  the  saloon:  they 
afford  a  convenient  place  to  leave  a  bundle  once  in  a 
life  time.  A  rattlesnake's  skin  makes  a  nice  pocket- 
book,  but  it  is  not  wise  to  keep  a  den  of  rattlesnakes  for 
sake  of  a  pocketbook.  The  rattlesnake  is  of  no  use  alive. 

These  two  ministers  have  out-done  the  brewers,  for 
the  brewers,  in  their  convention,  deplored  the  fact  that 
evils  had  grown  around  the  business  like  weeds. 

We  are  not  surprised  that  the  brewers  should  defend 
their  business,  but  we  are  surprised  that  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  who  were  call  to  a  better  work  should  ad- 
vocate an  evil  to  mankind. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  133 


Clarence  Darrow. 

To  give  our  opponents  full  advantage  of  the  argu- 
ments and  eloquencse  of  their  most  noted  advocates,  we 
quote  from  a  twenty-four-page  booklet  issued  by  the 
Manufacturers  and  Merchants  Association  of  New  Jer- 
sey. 

The  New  England  Union  Label  League  arranged  for 
an  address  by  Clarence  S.  Darrow,  of  Chicago. 

This  address  was  delivered  in  New  Bedlord,  Mass., 
for  the  purpose  of  changing  the  city  from  "dry"  to 

«  i)5 

wet 
Mr.  Darrow's  Subject  was 

Liberty  vs.  Prohibition. 

The  subject  did  not  indicate  the  line  of  argument,  he 
simply  rideculed  prohibition  because  it  deprived  men  of 
their  liberty.  He  is  so  sure  of  carrying  the  sympathies 
of  his  audience  on  another  line  of  argument,  says  to  his 
audience:  "I  do  not  believe  that  alcohol  is  a  food,  nor 
do  I  believe  that  the  human  system  needs  alcohol  in 
any  form,  but  it  is  for  the  liberty  of  each  man  to  drink 
if  he  wants  to,  that  I  plead." 

We  quote  in  part  as  follows: 


134      THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


Now  there  are  two  or  three  things  in  the  beginning 
that  I  want  to  speak  about.  I  am  not  interested  in 
whether  you  are  going  to  sell  more  goods  in  New  Bed- 
ford with  whiskey  or  without  it.  I  don't  care  a  cent  for 
that  kind  of  argument.  I  don't  live  here  and  I  don't 
think  if  I  did  live  here  I  would  be  influenced  by  any 
such  consideration.  If  drinking  beer  is  in  the  catigr.'/ 
of  cutting  throats  and  burglarzing  houses,  then  you 
ought  to  be  ashamed  to  make  money  out  of  it,  and 
you  ought  to  go  prohibition  even  if  the  grass  grows  in 
the  streets.  I  don't  care  whether  you  get  rich  or  get 
poor  because  of  drink,  and  I  don't  think  any  self-respect- 
ing man  ought  to  care  whether  you  get  rich  or  you 
get  poor  because  of  it.  If  it  is  a  business  that  fairly  and 
justly  comes  within  the  criminal  code,  then  you  can't 
excuse  yourself  by  getting  money  out  of  it,  neither  the 
city  nor  the  nation.  The  nation  ought  not  to  get  revenue 
and  the  city  ought  not  to  get  reveue,  and  business  men 
ought  not  to  get  money  out  of  it,  if  drinking  beer  is 
like  cutting  throats  and  burglarizing  houses.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  it  is  not,  if  it  is  a  part  of  my  liberty 
which  I  should  defend:  and  when  people  stop  defending 
their  liberty,  it  is  gone;  then  it  does  not  make  much 
difference  whether  we  lose  money  out  of  it  or  don't 
lose  mnney  out  of  it;  I  ought  to  stand  for  the  simple 
right  to  manage  my  own  affairs,  to  eat  and  drink  what 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  135 


I  please  without  calling  a  town  meeting  to  decide  on 
the  bill  of  fare." 

The  above  quotation  is  all  of  Mr.  Darrow's  talk  on 
the  question  of  temperance  or  the  saloon,  the  balance 
of  his  talk  was  in  the  line  of  socialistic  sentiment.  He 
marshals  before  his  hearers  all  the  evils  of  the  world, 
disease,  poverty,  accident  and  all  the  ills  that  flesh  is 
heir  to;  cuts  at  the  government  for  not  making  safety 
devices  to  prevent  injury  and  not  providing  for  men 
that  they  may  have  nothing  to  do  but  BE  INDE- 
PENDEN  T  and  enjoy  perfect  liberty.  He  eloquently 
shows  that  prohibitionists  ought  to  be  helping  to 
better  the  condition  of  these  badly  used  men,  and  not 
try  to  deprive  them  of  the  liberty  to  drink  if  they  want 
to. 

The  Government  and  the  several  states  are  working 
hard  to  make  safety  devices  for  the  protection  of  those 
whose  occupation  call  them  in  dangerous  places:  but  the 
same  governments  are  establishing  and  maintaining  the 
saloons  that  cause  more  of  the  ills  enumerated  by  Mr. 
Darrow,  than  any  other  cause. 

Wise  business  concerns  consider  it  unsafe  to  have 
a  man  who  drinks  occupy  a  position  of  responsibility  for 
fear  he  may  injure  himself  or  some  one  else,  or 
the  business.  But  ordinary  workmen  rush  out  of  the 
saloon  and  without  fear  or  care  rush  into  danger. 


136      THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


The  occasion  of  this  address  at  New  Bedford  was  to 
make  sentiment  in  favor  of  a  "wet"  town;  and  the 
speaker  appealed  to  the  sentiments  nearest  the  hearts  of 
his  hearers,  and  the  town  went  '  wet'  two  weeks  later. 

In  trying  to  ridecule  the  prohibitinists,  Mr.  Darrow 
said  "It  was  a  pity  that  God  could  not  have  had  the 
advantage  of  the  advice  of  the  prohibitionists,  when  He 
made  the  world,  and  perhaps  alcohol  would  not  have 
been  made," 

If  this  lofty  speech  is  argument,  it  is  argument  against 
the  use  of  alcohol,  in-as-much-as  God  did  not  make  alco- 
hol. Chemistry  teaches  us  that  there  is  not  a  particle 
of  alcohol  found  free  in  anything  that  God  has  made. 

We  may  analyze  the  substances  from  which  alcohol 
is  made  and  not  find  an  atom  of  alcohol. 

Alcohol  is  made  by  the  destruction  of  substances  that 
were  made  for  better  use.  We  are  almost  ashamed 
to  take  up  this  address,  but  the  brewers  have  put  their 
stamp  of  approval  on  it  and  sent  it  out  as  argument, 
we  are  obliged  to  notice  it. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      137 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
"We  Do  Not  Haul  Men  Into  The  Saloon." 

The  saloonist  justifies  himself  in  his  work,  by  two 
arguments:  "I  am  empowered  by  the  state,  to  sell;"  "1 
never  go  out  into  the  streets  to  haul  people  in,  there- 
fore, it  is  the  lawmaker's  fault  that  I  sell,  and  the  drink- 
er's fault  that  he  comes  in." 

We  pass  over  the  first  reason  without  comment,  but 
note  incidentally,  that  the  saloonist  agrees  with  what 
we  have  been  trying  to  show,  that  the  lawmakers  are 
to  blame  for  the  saloons,  and  all  the  harm  they  do. 

By  his  anxiety  to  throw  the  blame  on  the  lawmakers, 
he  confesses  that  the  business  is  harmful. 

The  saloonist  would  make  it  appear  that  the  lawmak- 
ers are  wicked,  and  that  the  drinkers  are  wicked,  and 
the  judge  is  wicked,  and  the  saloonist  is  the  only  inno- 
cent one  of  the  lot. 

It  may  be  true  that  the  saloon  man  does  not  lay  vi- 
olent hands  upon  a  person,  and  haul  him  in  by  physic- 
al force,  but  he  does,  by  various  means,  decoy  the 
victim  in. 

A  man  not  caring  or  intending  to  enter  a  saloon,  would 
undoubtedly  resist  any  violence  to  force  him  into  the 


138        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


saloon,  and  the  saloon  man  knows  this  and  resorts  to 
some  more  gentle  means  of  getting  him  in. 

There  are  hundreds  of  ways  to  entice  men  into  the 
saloon  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  haul  them  in. 

Here  is  an  instance  to  illustrate  one  of  the  many 
ways:  For  a  number  of  years,  my  business  called  me 
to  a  little  town  in  New  Jersey  where  there  is  only  one 
hotel.  The  infrequency  of  trains  made  it  necessary  to 
wait  about  four  hours  for  a  train.  I  passed  my  waiting 
time  after  dinner,  in  the  bar-room  of  the  hotel,  and  I 
made  it  my  business  to  become  acquainted  with  the  ways 
and  methods  peculiar  to  the  bar-room  and  the  saloon 
business. 

On  one  occasion,  a  farmer  drove  into  town  and  stop- 
ped in  front  of  the  hotel,  he  had  two  bags  of  potatoes 
in  his  wagon,  for  sale.  The  landlord  was  sitting  on 
the  front  porch  of  the  hotel,  and  the  farmer  asked  him 
to  buy  the  potatoes.  The  landlord  went  to  the  wagon 
and  examined  the  potatoes  and  agreed  on  the  price, 
and  told  the  farmer  to  carry  the  bags  down  cellar  by 
the  outside  door.  After  the  farmer  had  carried  the  po- 
totoes  to  the  cellar  and  had  returned,  the  landlord,  while 
standing  on  the  ground,  asked  the  farmer  to  go  into 
the  bar-room  to  get  his  pay  for  the  potatoes,  and  when 
they  reached  the  bar  the  landlord  went  behind  it  and 
paid  for  the  potatoes  with  money  he  took  from  hii 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      139 


POCKET.  By  the  time  the  farmer  had  received  his 
money  there  were  a  dozen  or  more  who  had  been  loung- 
ing about  the  room,  stepped  up  to  the  bar,  and  one  of 
them  said  "are  we  not  in  this?" 

It  is  an  unwritten  law  in  that  saloon,  as  it  is  in  many 
saloons,  that  he  who  receives  money  from  behind  the  bar, 
shall  treat  the  crowd.  The  farmer  did  treat  the  crowd, 
and  the  landlord  took  a  costly  cigar  which  he  put  in 
his  vest  pocket  and  afterwards  put  in  the  box  it  was 
taken  from,  to  sell  again.  It  was  unnecesary  for  the 
landlord  to  call  the  farmer  into  the  bar-room,  as  he 
paid  for  the  potatoes  with  money  which  he  took  from 
his  pocket;  the  only  object  for  calling  him  in  was  to 
place  the  farmer  under  such  circumstance  that  he  could 
not  refuse  to  treat,  without  embarrassment.  But,  the 
landlord  did  not  haul  him  into  the  bar-room,  but  he  did 
a  meaner  thing;  his  act  was  a  pretense  that  he  had  no 
money  in  his  pocket,  and  his  object  was  to  bring  the 
farmer  under  the  influence  of  the  loungers  in  the  bar- 
room that  he  might  put  some  of  the  farmer's  money  in 
his  own  pocket. 

On  another  occasion  this  same  landlord  was  sitting  on 
his  porch,  at  the  end  farthest  from  the  bar  entrance, 
and  seeing  a  man  on  the  sidewalk,  who  had  passed  the 
entrance,  called  out  in  his  most  hearty  voice,  "hello  John, 
old  boy,  how  are  you?"  The  landlord  reached  out  his  hand 


140        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


towards  the  man  and  walked  along  the  porch  and  met 
him  at  the  foot  of  the  steps  leading  him  by  the  hand 
up  the  steps  and  into  the  room  and  did  not  let  go  of 
the  man's  hand  until  they  reached  the  bar,  where  they 
stood  and  talked  a  short  time  when  the  man  treated 
the  crowd,  and  went  away.  There  are  many  ways  to  get 
a  man  into  the  saloon  without  hauling  him  in  by  force. 

Admitting  that  the  rumseller  does  not  haul  his  victim 
in  by  force,  and  aside  from  the  fact  that  many  induce- 
ments are  held  out  by  the  rumseller,  there  are  sufficient 
reasons  why  the  above  means  are  unnecessary. 

The  patrons  of  the  saloons  are  divided  into  three 
classes;  the  drunkard,  the  moderate  drinker  and  the 
occasional  drinker.  As  to  the  first  class,  the  drunkard, 
the  appetite  he  has  formed  is  incentive  enough,  so  that 
physical  force  is  not  necessary  to  take  him  into  the  sa- 
loon and  his  own  moral  force  is  not  strong  enough  to 
keep  him  out. 

He  has  been  in  so  many  times  that  he  enters  by  force 
of  habit,  but  he  has  formed  his  habit  by  yielding  to 
influences  that  are  common  to  the  moderate  drinker  and 
to  the  occasional  drinker. 

The  moderate  drinker,  because  he  is  not  yet  a  drunk- 
ard, thinks  that  the  saloon  is  harmless,  as  he  has  not 
yet  felt  the  harmful  effects;  and  when  he  does  feel  any 
harmful  effects  he  intends  to  stop  drinking,  but 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      141 


he  passes  from  the  moderate  drinker  to  the  sot,  then 
there  is  no  need  of  physical  force  to  draw  him  into  the 
saloon. 

The  third  class;  the  occasional  drinker,  is  a  younger 
man,  who  has  warm  friends  in  the  class  of  moderate 
drinkers,  who  invite  him  into  the  bar-room  and  initiate 
him  into  the  social  element  of  the  saloon.  The  young 
initiate  does  not  realize  that  the  drunkard  started  at  the 
same  point;  he  looks  only  at  his  friend,  the  moderate 
drinker. 

The  drink,  as  soon  as  it  has  catered  his  sto.nach  begins 
its  deadly  work,  and  every  drink  increases  his  desire  for 
more.  If  the  first  drink  hurts  him,  he  is  hurt,  but  if 
the  first  drink  does  not  hurt  him,  he  is  sure  to  take  an- 
other because  the  first  one  did  not  hurt  him,  and  still 
another  until  the  occasional  drinker  becomes  a  moderate 
Tdrinker  and  the  moderate  drinker  becomes  a  drunkard. 


142       THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
Alcohol  a  Preserver. 

One  of  the  stray  bits  of  argument  presented  by 
moderate  drinkers  more  to  justify  themselves  in  their 
use  of  alcoholic  drinks  than  to  convince  others,  that 
alcohol  preserves  the  health  of  the  physical  system,  and 
they  try  to  prove  it  by  the  fact  that  alcohol  will  pre- 
vent the  decay  of  flesh  that  is  put  in  it,  and  therefore 
it  prevents  the  decay  of  the  human  flesh. 
This  sounds  good  and  reasonable  at  a  glance,  but  when 
we  look  into  it  a  little  deeper,  we  find  that  because  of 
the  fact  that  alcohol  will  prevent  the  decay  of  flesh,  is 
proof  that  it  is  injurious  to  the  human  system. 

The  healtk  of  the  body  depends  upon  the  perfect 
action  of  two  laws.  The  law  of  nutrition  and  the  law  of 
decay.  If  either  of  these  laws  is  suspended,  the  system 
will  be  impaired;  and  the  law  of  decay  is  as  necessary 
as  the  law  of  nutrition.  Nutrition  supplies  the  body  day 
by  day,  and  the  law  of  decay  removes  the  waste  matter, 
and  by  the  well  balanced  action  of  these  two  laws, 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      143 


the  flesh  of  the  body  is  kept  new.  from  year  to  year. 

Stop  the  law  of  nutrition,  and  let  the  law  of  decay 
keep  on  with  its  action,  and  the  body  wastes  and  death 
would  soon  result.  Or  let  the  action  of  the  law  of  decay 
be  suspended,  and  the  body  would  become  full  of 
dead  matter,  and  death  would  soon  result. 

The  healthy  body  needs  the  well  balanced  action  of 
these  two  laws,  nutrition  and  decay,  and  if  alcohol  de- 
stroys the  action  of  either  of  these  two  laws,  it  is  not 
not  good  for  the  body. 


144       THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 

CHAPTER  XX. 

The  Law  as  it  is  in  Hoboken. 

If  any  further  proof  of  the  insincerity  of  the  lawmakers 
is  needed,  it  is  found  in  the  character  of  the  laws. 

These  laws  are  made  with  such  an  element  of  incon- 
eistency  and  flexibility  that  a  judge  in  trying  a  case  of 
violation  of  the  excise  laws,  may  twist  and  misrule  to 
defeat  justice,  knowing  that  his  rulings  are  not  sub- 
ject to  appeal  to  a  higher  court. 

We  £lip  the  following  from  the  New  York  Press,  of 
January  9th,  1908,  which  is  in  substance,  as  follows: 

The  police  of  Hoboken,  N.  J.  arrested  150  saloon 
keepers  for  failure  to  have  their  screens  drawn  on  Sun- 
day. These  saloonkeepers  were  brought  before  Recorder 
McGovern,  who  called  upon  one  saloonkeeper  named 
William  J.  Heiman,  who  was  defended  by  Horris  L. 
Allen,  counsel  for  the  Hoboken  Inn  and  Tavernkeeper's 
Association. 

The  Recorder  ruled  that  the  mere  proof  that  the 
screens  were  up  is  insufficient  in  order  to  make  a  case 
against  the  defendant. 

The  complainant  must  show  that  the  place  in  question 
does  not  come  within  the  exceptions  mentioned  in  the 
act 


THE  (IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      145 


It  devolves  upon  the  complainant  to  to  show  violation 
of  the  act,  and  this  has  not  been  done.  The  above  is 
the  ruling  of  Recorder  McGovern  in  this  case  which  was 
dismissed,  and  so  were  the  149  others  on  the  same 
grounds. 

It  appears  that  the  laws  relating  to  screens  do  no  apply 
to  certain  places.  The  Recorder  mentioned  the  following 
as  exceptions:  Inns  and  Taverns  having  ten  rooms  for 
the  accommodation  of  travelers,  regularly  incorporated 
clubs  occupying  an  entire  building,  recreation  grounds 
and  places  having  bowling  alleys. 

The  procedure  in   this  case  shows  the  inconcistency  of 
the  laws. 

The  law  made  it  the  duty  of  the  policeman  to  arrest 
the  proprietor  of  a  saloon  for  not  having  the  window 
screens  drawn.  It  also  prevented  his  entering  the  sa- 
loon to  search  it  without  a  warrant,  but  according  to 
the  Recorder  the  policeman  must  count  the  rooms  with- 
out seeing  them  and  to  tell  what  the  rooms  were  used 
for  without  knowing.  The  policeman  was  in  no  sense  a 
complainant,  but  a  witness  that  the  screens  were  not  as 
the  law  required  and  to  make  the  arrest,  and  there  his 
duty  ended.  The  Recorder's  ruling  made  the  law  of  no 
effect 

Policemen  are  not  supposed  to  know  whether  these 
saloonkeepers  were  exceptions  to  the  laws  or  not; 


146       THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


if  they  were  exempt  from  the  law,  there  was  a  record 
of  the  fact  to  which  the  Recorder  could  have  referred: 
or  if  these  persons  who  were  arrested  were  exceptions 
under  any  of  the  terms  of  the  law,  it  was  their  right  to 
prove  themselves  exempt.  The  Recorder  could  not 
regard  the  policeman  as  the  complinant  and  at  the  same 
time  make  it  his  duty  to  defend  the  defendant. 

There  were  one  hundred  and  fifty  accused  saloonmen, 
one  recorder  and  one  attorney,  the  counsel  for  the  Inn 
and  Tavernkeepers  Association;  and  the  men  higher  up, 
what  could  the  poor  Recorder  do?  If  he  had  done 
otherwise,  it  would  have  caused  his  political  death. 
If  the  Legislature  makes  laws  to  prevent  policemen  go- 
ing into  houses  without  a  warrant,  and  at  the  same 
time  compel  him  to  count  the  number  of  rooms  in  a 
house  without  entering  it  and  compel  him  to  make  ar- 
rests, and  then  compel  him  to  defend  the  party  arrested, 
then  we  must  conclude  that  the  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislature  intentionally  make  laws  that 
are  unenforceable.  We  cannot  accuse  the  lawmakers  of 
ignorance  for  the  laws  they  make  are  so  cunningly 
favorable  to  the  brewers. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      147 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
The  Canteen. 


From  The  New  York  Tribune  of  December  4th  1912, 
we  quote  a  part  of  General  Wood's  Annual  report  as  fol- 
lows: "The  great  majority  of  officers  of  the  army  are  of 
the  opinion  that  the  re-establishment  of  the  canteen, 
under  proper  supervision  to  improve  the  health,  disci- 
pline and  efficiency  of  the  service,  through  dismissing 
intemperanee,  and  immorality,  I  concur  in  this  opinion." 

At  first  sight  it  would  papear  that  G  naral  Wood  was 
in  favor  of  the  canteen  as  a  desirable  thing  in  the  army, 
and  beneficial  to  the  health  of  the  soldiers;  but  this  is 
not  his  sentiment.  He  feels  that  the  free  indulgence 
in  the  use  of  liquors  causes  these  evils,  and  that  the  can- 
teen if  properly  supervised,  would,  to  some  extent  bet- 
ter the  conditions;  that  is,  he  chooses  he  less  of  the  two 
evils.  No  doubt,  he  is  right  in  a  sense;  the  evils  would 
be  reduced  in  proportion  to  the  limitation  of  its  use. 

General  Wood  is  interested  in  maintaing  an  army 
in  such  condition  as  will  enable  it  to  defend  the  country 


148         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


from  the  attacks  of  foreign  foes,  and  while  the  Govern- 
ment is  maintaining,  at  a  great  expense,  a  large  army, 
building  and  equipping  forts  and  providing  rations,  cloth- 
ing and  pay  for  service;  at  the  same  time  the  states 
and  territories  where  these  armies  are  located  establish 
saloons  and  license  men  to  sell  rum  and  beer  to  the 
soldiers  to  destroy  their  efficiency.  The  civil  institutions 
of  the  country  destroying  the  military  defences. 

Some  fortifications,  built  where  springs  of  water  are 
depended  upon  for  the  supply  of  water  for  drinking  and 
cooking,  the  springs  are  covered  over  with  stone  or 
cement  work,  to  prevent  the  enemy  poisoning  the  water, 
and  the  water  is  brought  through  under-ground  pipes, 
into  the  fortification.  We  have  here  a  condition  that 
make  more  danger  from  our  friends  than  from  our  en- 
imies;  for  the  danger  of  being  poisened  by  the  enemy 
is  very  remote  while  the  saloon  is  sure  to  poison  and 
this  condition,  with  its  evils  is  established  by  law  and 
a  certain  percentage  of  the  money  paid  by  the  soldier 
for  the  alcohol  he  drinks,  helps  to  pay  the  soldier's  wages. 

General  Wood  is  interested  in  the  welfare  of  his 
soldiers  and  their  efficiency,  but  has  no  power  in  the 
matter  outside  of  the  army,  and  has  no  authority  to  in- 
terfere with  the  saloon,  so  he  must  do  the  next  best 
thing,  which,  to  his  way  of  thinking,  is  the  canteen 
with  proper  supervision. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT  149 


The  business  men  of  the  country  are  dismissing  from 
their  employ  those  who  hold  important  positions  if  they 
are  in  the  habit  of  drinking,  as  they  are  not  considered 
safe  for  the  business,  but  General  Wood  would  intro- 
duce drunkeness  into  the  army,  to  a  certain  degree. 

A  drunken  soldiers  may  be  brave,  but  reckless,  and 
he  may  bring  disaster  to  himself  and  to  the  company 
to  which  he  belongs.  The  Government,  beause  of  Gen. 
Wood's  recommend,  may  restore  the  canteen,  and  it  may 
have  the  much  desired  effect;  but  a  better  way  would 
be  to  abolish  the  saloons.  The  canteen  under  proper 
supervision  might  improve  the  health  and  morals  of  the 
soldiers,  but  the  practice  of  moderate  drinking  would 
cultivate  an  appetite  for  strong  drink,  and  when  the 
soldiers  have  served  their  term  of  enlistment,  and  all 
restraint  is  removed,  they  vvill  indulge  their  appetites 
and  spend  the  remainder  of  their  days  in  "intemperance 
and  immorality,"  as  General  Wood  says. 

It  is  right  that  these  young  soldiers,  after  having  serv- 
ed their  conutry  for  a  number  of  years,  should  return 
to  civil  life  with  honors  due  defenders  of  their  country; 
and  that  they  should  be  able  to  take  up  their  civil  pur- 
suits, with  uncorrupted  appetites  and  uncorruped  morals. 

It  would  be  a  shame  that  these  soldiers  who  had  been 
invincible  before  the  foreign  foe,  should  be  conquered 
by  the  saloons,  the  foe  of  mankind. 


150        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


General  Wood's  request  for  the  re-establishment  of 
the  canteen,  is  that  the  saloons  destroy  the  health,  dis- 
cipline and  efficiency  of  the  soldiers,  and  thus  weaken 
the  defences  of  the  country.  What  is  the  sense  of  mak- 
ing and  manning  fortifications  to  resist  a  foreign  foe, 
and  let  in  a  deadlier  foe  in  form  of  intoxicating  drinks 
to  attack  the  men  of  the  fort? 

A  man  who  had  been  a  hard  drinker  for  many  years 
was,  by  some  means,  appointed  constable  of  a  town  in 
New  Jersey.  A  year  after  his  appointment,  he  was  in- 
vited by  a  friend  whom  the  constable  had  not  seen 
for  a  number  of  years,  to  take  a  drink.  The  constable 
refused  to  drink,  and  turning  back  his  coat  displayed  a 
constable's  badge,  and  said  to  his  friend  "do  you  see 
that?  When  I  put  that  badge  there  and  put  a  pistol  in 
my  pocket,  I  swore  that  as  long  as  that  badge  is  there 
I  would  not  drink  a  drop  of  alcohol,"  "A  badge  on  my 
vest,  a  gun  in  my  pocket  and  alcohol  in  my  stomach, 
make  a  dangerous  combination."  This  man  was  not 
educated,  but  he  had  wisdom  that  he  had  gained  by 
experience.  There  may  come  a  time  when  Gen.  Wood 
will  find  that  guns  in  the  hands  of  thousands  of  intox- 
icated soldiers  will  prove  a  dangerous  combination. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      151 


The  Parcel  Post. 

The  Parcel  Post  system  was  inaugurated  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  exchange  of  commodities  in  order  to  re- 
duce the  cost  of  living.  Merchandise,  clothing,  food  &c. 
subject  to  limitation  of  weight,  and  safety  to  other 
matter  in  the  mail,  are  admissible. 

Post  Master  General  Hitchcock  has  excluded  spiritu- 
ous, vinous,  malted  and  fermented  and  other  intoxicat- 
ing liquors  of  any  kind,  and  has  classified  these  articles 
with  poisons,  and  has  experssed  his  sentiments  as  to 
these  articles  being  food  or  necessities  of  life,  this  he 
could  do  acting  in  his  department  of  state. 

General  Wood  and  Postmaster  Hitchcock,  both  occu- 
pying high  positions,  have  expressed  their  sentiments  on 
the  drink  question,  and  each  has  done  what  he  could  in 
his  respective  department  to  limit  the  evils  of  intem- 
perance. 

The  recent  gathering  of  soldiers  at  Gettysberg,  where 
the  greatest  battle  of  modern  times  was  fought  fifty 
years  ago,  after  enduring  the  fatigue  of  a  long  journey 
from  different  parts  of  the  country,  endured  the  dis- 
comforts of  the  camp  for  a  number  of  days,  in  extreme- 
ly hot  weather,  without  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks. 

This  should  rebuke  the  clamor  of  young  men  of  the 
army,  for  alcoholic  drinks. 


These  same  veterans  who  met  at  gettysberg,  fifty  years 
ago  and  fought  the  greatest  battle  of  a  five  years'  war 
without  the  aid  of  alcohol,  and  the  young  men  of  to-day 
either  in  or  out  of  the  army,  should  be  ashamed  to  con- 
fess that  alcoholic  drinks  are  necessary  to  complete 
the  physical  manhood  that  they  were  created  with. 

General  wood,  in  his  request  to  restore  the  canteen 
to  the  army  had  a  purpose  of  reducing  the  evils  of  the 
drink  habits  of  his  soldiers.  His  hope  was  that  the 
canteen,  under  supervision  would  be  better  than  the  free 
unrestrained  use  of  alcoholic  drinks. 

He  makes  it  plain  that  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks 
destroys  the  health  and  efficiency  of  the  soldiers,  and 
makes  them  immoral 

No  doubt  this  is  true  of  every  soldier  who  drinks;  and 
if  true  of  soldiers,  it  is  also  true  of  every  person  who 
drinks,  in  the  army  or  out  of  it,  and  every  person  who 
drinks  is  to  a  degree,  injuring  his  health,  and  destroying 
his  efficiency,  not  only  as  a  soldier,  but  as  a  perfect 
man  in  any  other  occupation  or  calling. 

Life  Insuranee  companies  whose  business  is  based  on 
the  condition  of  health  and  expectation  of  life,  regard 
the  drinker  as  an  undesirable  risk.  Railroad  managers 
have  observed  the  same  effects  of  alcoholic  drinks  that 
General  Wood  has,  and  thousands  have  been  dismissed 
because  alcoholic  drinks  have  made  them  inefficient 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      153 


and  soon  a  large  portion  of  our  young  men  will  be  un- 
able to  find  positions  to  earn  their  living,  and  this  drink- 
ing habit  with  which  General  Wood  connects  immoral- 
ity and  loss  of  health,  will  produce  a  condition  when  the 
young  men  will  not  be  able  to  support  themselves  or 
to  take  the  responsibility  of  a  family  upon  themselves, 
and  they  will  be  in  such  a  state  of  want  and  incapacity, 
that  their  necessities  in  connection  with  their  tainted 
morals  will  cause  them  to  satisfy  their  wants  in  dishon- 
est ways,  and  they  will  be  troublesome  to  the  country. 

If  it  is  true  that  drinking  habits  destroy  the  the  effi- 
ciency of  young  men  in  the  army,  it  follows  that  the 
same  cause  will  produce  the  same  effect  upon  those  who 
are  not  in  the  army,  and  the  consequence  will  be,  when 
the  country  needs  efficient  men  to  defend  it  against 
a  foreign  foe,  it  will  discover  the  mistake  of  allowing 
saloons,  which  cause  inefficiency,  to  exist. 

General  Wood  speaks  as  though  he  referred  to  tke 
soldiers  of  the  ranks  and  file,  but  history,  written 
and  unwritten,  records  the  fact  that  many  commands 
given  by  officers  while  under  the  influence  of  alcoholic 
drinks,  have  caused  great  disaster  and  there  is  as  much 
danger  from  this  portion  of  the  army  as  there  is  from 
the  rank  and  file. 

It  is  very  plainly  to  be  seen  that  every  saloon  in  the 
United  States,  and  there  are  thousands  of  them,  is  an 


154        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


institution  to  destroy  the  morals,  the  health  and  the 
efficiency  of  the  young  men  upon  whom  the  country 
depends  for  its  defence  and  a  judge  in  every  county 
of  the  license-granting  states  is  busy  establishing  these 
institutions. 

Granting  a  license  in  a  small  village  seems  to  be  a  small 
local  affair,  but  every  county  has  its  agents.  The  brewers 
have  general  agents  with  the  title  of  Judge,  to  ap- 
point sub-agents,  with  the  title  of  saloonist;  so  that  the 
whole  country  is  covered  with  saloons,  and  the  matter 
becomes  of  national  importance;  and  the  whole  nation 
must  suffer  for  the  acts  of  local  judges.  The  power  of 
the  judge  comes  from  the  lawmakers  and  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  state.  So  we  see  the  lawmakers  and  the 
governors  of  all  the  license-granting  states  are  working 
against  the  Country.  We  are  sorry  to  say  that  a  large 
portion  of  government  officers  are  with  the  state  officials. 
We  know  that  the  states,  and  the  general  Government 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  citizens  are  injured:  who 
are  benefited  beside  the  brewers  ?  Let  him  who  knows, 
answer. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      155 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

The  Political  Vintage, 

Following  the  trend  of  events,  for  the  last  few  weeks, 
we  find  great  activity  of  interested  persons  throughout 
the  country,  in  the  question  of  temperance,  either  for 
or  against  it. 

The  Legislature  of  New  York  has  been  considering  a 
proposition  to  make  an  amendment  to  the  law,  to  per- 
mit the  establishing  of  a  saloon  within  two  hundred 
feet  of  a  private  school,  provided  the  proprietor  of  the 
school  shall  give  his  consent:  See  Daily  Tribune  of 
Feb.  28,  1913. 

This  proposition  was  favorably  passed  upon  by  the 
Assembly.  The  Senate  and  the  Governor  only,  stand 
between  the  Assembly  and  the  enactment  of  the  propos- 
ed amendment.  At  the  present  writing,  there  is  no 
conjecture  of  what  the  outcome  will  be;  undoubtedly 
the  members  of  the  Senate  will  be  subject  to  the  same 
influences  as  the  members  of  the  Assembly  were,  but  it 
is  hoped  that  they  msy  be  able  to  rssist. 

It  is  evident  that  the  members  of  the  Assembly  did 
not  consider  the  sentiment  of  the  state,  and  they  cannot 
fall  back  on  the  usual  defence,  "popular  sentiment  de- 
manded it." 


156        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


No  more  than  one  out  of  ten  thousands  could  be  ben- 
efiited  by  the  enactment  of  such  a  law,  and  not  one  of 
a  thousand  knows  of  the  effort  to  pass  it. 

So  very  few  there  are  who  could  be  benefited  by  it, 
that  it  would  seem  to  be  a  special  law  for  a  special  indi- 
vidual, covered  up  by  a  pretense  of  a  public  benefit. 

The  assembly  at  Albany  has  worked  in  the  interest  of 
the  rumsellers. 

The  lawmaker  using  his  position  and  delegated  power, 
to  make  special  laws  to  enable  some  man  who  has  his 
eye  upon  a  favorable  site  for  a  saloon,  too  near  a  school 
house  to  be  allowed  under  the  terms  of  the  present  law. 

Noble  Statesmen! 

There  must  be  other  matters  which  should  engage 
the  mind  of  the  noble  lawmakers  that  would  enable  them 
to  make  a  better  showing  of  statesmanship,  than  by 
trying  to  increase  the  number  of  available  sites  for 
saloons. 

If  our  Country  ever  loses  its  standing  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  it  will  be  because  of  the  lawmakers  and 
rulers  of  the  present  day.  We  sometimes  deplore  the 
tendency  of  the  youth  of  the  present  generation  and 
predict  evil  whea  the  youth  of  to-day  become  the  rulers 
of  the  future,  but  whatever  they  may  do  will  be  the 
natural  result  of  what  the  rulers  of  to-day  are  doing. 

At  all  times,  men  "higher  up"  make  the  under-world, 


THE  IRHEPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      157 


If  it  were  not  for  the  men  "higher  up"  there  would 
not  be  so  many  in  the  "under  world."  The  individuals 
of  the  under  word  are  the  tools  of  the  men  higher  up, 
and  the  men  higher  up  have  made  their  own  tools. 

Shakespeare's  scene  of  King  John  and  Hubert,  in  the 
case  of  young  Arthur,  shows  the  relation  of  the  upper 
and  the  lower  world;  in  which  case,  Hubert  shows  him- 
self the  better  of  the  two. 

The  liquor  question  has  also  been  under  considera- 
tion by  the  U.  S.  Congress  and  the  President.  The  re- 
sult of  their  consideration  is,  in  some  respects,  favorable 
to  the  temperance  cause.  The  bill  preventing  the  ship- 
ment of  liquors  into  prohibition  states  passed  both  houses, 
which  fact  gives  encouragement  to  the  advocates  of 
temperance.  No  doubt  that  the  President  was  sincere 
in  his  reasons  for  vetoing  the  bill,  yet  it  is  to  be  regreted. 

We  do  not  feel  justified  in  commenting  upon  the 
constitutional  grounds  of  the  veto:  but  it  appears  to  us 
that  in  as  much  as  Congress  has  constitutional  right  to 
prevent  the  distribution  of  liquors  through  the  mails  and 
the  right  to  regulate  the  shipment  of  explosives  by 
carrying  companies,  it  has  the  right  to  regulatd  the  de- 
livery of  liquors  into  the  states  that  have  enacted  pro- 
hibition laws. 

If  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  permits 
individuals  or  carrying  companies  to  interfere  with  the 


158       THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


enforcement  of  consitutional  laws  of  the  state  and  thus 
nullify  the  laws  of  the  state,  then  there  is  need  of  an 
amendment  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

It  is  difficult  for  a  layman  to  understand  how  the 
general  government  can  make  and  enforce  laws  regu- 
lating Inter-state  Commerce,  if  the  president's  reasons 
for  vetoing  the  bill  referred  to,  are  valid. 

Unless  the  individual  prohibition  state  through  which 
carriers  pass  has  a  right  of  its  own,  to  enforce  its 
own  laws  and  regulations  as  against  such  carriers,  and 
if  the  Constitution  of  The  United  States  is  powerless  to 
help  the  the  individual  state,  then  the  state  is  at  the 
mercy  of  any  individual  outside  of  the  state,  to  such  an 
extent  that  it  cannot  enforce  its  own  laws  within  its 
own  territory. 

If  this  principle  is  correct  it  must  apply  to  every 
article  of  commerce,  or  to  any  other  matter.  The  state 
could  not  quarantine  against  the  importation  of  disease 
or  decayed  fruits  or  infected  cattle.  The  way  it  looks  to 
us,  the  reasons  given  for  th«  veto  are  not  valid,  pro- 
vided the  state  has  a  constitutional  right  to  pass  prohib- 
itson  laws. 

We  are  not  qualified  to  express  an  opinion  as  to  the 
constitutionality  of  the  law,  but  simply  suggest  these 
difficulties  for  the  constitutional  expert. 

For  the    last  few    weeks,    high  officials  have  shown 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      159 


considerable  interest  in  the  liquor  business.  Mayors  of 
large  cities  like  New  York  and  Chicago  have  been  mak- 
ing great  efforts  to  give  the  dealers  in  liquors,  more 
liberty  and  less  liability  in  their  business. 
Changes  of  laws  have  been  suggested  all  to  the  advantage 
of  the  sellers  of  beer.  In  Chicago  saloon  closing-time 
was  changed  from  one  A.  M.  to  two  o'clock  on  New 
Year's,  so  as  to  give  the  saloonists  a  chance  to  clean 
out  the  pockets  of  his  customers,  and  to  start  the  New 
Year  as  he  wished  it  to  run.  Everything  has  been  done 
that  could  be  done,  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  liquor 
dealers. 

After  a  man  has  been  elected  to  a  position  of  power, 
the  people  who  elected  him  have  no  influence  with  th« 
officer  elected.  The  officer  then  comes  under  the  influ- 
ence of  certain  classes  of  men  of  whom  he  hopes  to  re- 
ceive favors  and  forgets  those  who  have  favored  him. 
The  voter  has  no  money  interest  in  the  the  election  of  a 
man,  but  there  are  classes  of  men,  and  kinds  of  busi- 
ness that  need  certain  laws,  and  they  find  a  way  to  get 
what  they  want  even  though  the  ordinary  voter  suffers 
in  consequence. 

We  know  that  the  brewers  are  willing  to  spend  money 
to  promote  their  business,  and  that  they  keep  a  legisla- 
tive account,  and  we  reason  that  they  would  not  keep  an 
account  of  legislative  expense  that  did  not  have  a 


160       THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


credit  side  as  well  as  a  debit  side.  We  know  that  the 
liquor  men  are  well  satisfied  with  the  situation,  and  that 
they  consider  themselves  well  cared  for  by  the  lawmak- 
ers. The  brewers  and  distillers  have  associations  by 
which  means  they  keep  in  touch  with  each  other,  and 
with  individual  dealers  throughout  the  land,  so  that  they 
can  act  in  harmony  with  the  business,  and  can  all  act 
under  the  direction  of  the  heads  of  the  business,  as  to 
the  most  desirable  candidate  of  any  party  that  will 
pledge  to  support  the  liquor  interests.  If  any  evidence 
of  the  above  statement  is  needed,  that  lawmakers  and 
tke  office-seekers  favor  the  liquor  interests,  it  will  be 
found  in  a  quotation  from  the  New  York  Tribune  of 
March  28,  1913,  the  sub-head  of  a  paragraph  which 
reads  as  follows:  "Wine  growers  rejoice."  "News  of 
the  coming  president's  liberal  views  cheer  all  at  the 
the  annual  dinner  of  the  American  Wine-growers  As- 
sociation at  the  Waldorf."  Dudley  Field  Malone  made 
a  speech  OB  the  subject:  The  Political  Vintage,  during 
which  he  told  of  his  experience  campaigning  with  Prof. 
Wilson." 

"It  was  in  Milwaukie"  he  said,  that  I  first  heard  the 
rumor  that  Gov.  Wilson  was  a  prohibitionist.  "1  happen- 
ed to  know  that  at  that  moment  the  Governor  was  sitting 
in  Bapst's  hostlery  drinking  a  ''Scotch."  "I  went  and 
asked  him  if  he  was  a  prohibitionist."  "He  replied 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      161 


that  he  had  never  answerd  that  question  before  as 
he  \\as  busy  with  more  important  things;  but  he  said 
then,  that  to  his  mind,  "prohibition  had  no  part  in 
politics,  and  wont  have  in  mine;  it  belongs  to  econom- 
ic and  social  questions."  "Some  prohibitionists  drink; 
let  us  quit  hypocrisy  and  fake  reform  and  let  every 
man  live  according  to  his  own  good  judgment." 

The  article  from  which  the  above  is  quoted  further 
says  "all  of  which  was  particularly  interesting  to  the 
wine-growers  who  asked  Mr.  Malone  to  speak  so  that 
they  might  get  some  line  on  legislation  concerning  their 
own  cherished  business" 

Thus  we  see  that  before  Prof.  Wilson  was  elected 
president,  the  liquor  dealers  had  "a  line  on  his  policy." 

How  many  votes  did  this  line  of  policy  gain  for 
for  Mr.  Wilson  ? 

Mr  Wilson  was  too  busy  to  answer  the  the  question 
whether  he  was  a  prohibitionist  or  not,  when  the  ques- 
tion was  put  to  him  in  New  Jersey,  but  it  took  only  a 
few  minute  to  answer  it  in  Milwaukee,  the  great  beer 
manufacturing  centre.  The  question  was  of  great  im- 
portance at  this  place.  When  the  same  question  was 
asked  by  the  New  Jersey  Anti-Salo  >n  League,  he  was 
too  busy  to  answer  except  to  say  that  the  liquor  ques- 
tion was  a  religious  and  moral  question  and  not  a  matter 
of  politics;  in  Milwaukee  it  was  a  social  and  economic 


162       THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


question.  He  eliminates  from  his  line  of  policy  all  social, 
moral,  economic  and  religious  matters. 

It  might  not  be  detrimental  to  his  success  as  an  am- 
bitious man,  independent  of  his  political  aspirations,  to 
consider  these  thing.  We  would  call  attention  to  Mr. 
Malone's  subject:  "The  Political  Vintage." 

This  suggests  that  Wine  growers  have,  of  late,  reap- 
ed a  rich  harvest  of  political  influence,  and,  by  the  use 
of  Prof.  Wilon's  name,  and  his  assurances  that  he  is 
not  a  prohibitionist,  suggest  that  Prof.  Wilson  was 
considered  the  prize  fruit  of  the  Vintage. 

A  well  conducted  vinyard  requires  care  and  cultiva- 
tion, and  we  infer  the  politicians  have  been  cultivated. 

The  wine-growers  and  Mr.  Malone  rejoiced  that  they 
had  gained  so  much  political  advantage,  knowing  that 
the  prosperity  of  their  business  depends  upon  the 
action  and  influence  of  the  politicians  and  lawmak- 
ers. 

Political  platforms  usually  detail  the  desirable  policies 
of  the  party,  but  the  liquor  dealers  dare  not  make  their 
platform,  but  they  must  know  how  all  candidates  stand. 
A  sly  wink  from  a  crafty  candidate,  means  that  their 
business  is  safe.  "A  wink  is  a  bid,"  and  the  voter 
is  sold.  If  this  is  not  treachery,  what  is  it  ?  This  mat- 
ter is  left  out  of  the  platform  intentionally;  and  the  can- 
didate acts  for  the  voter  because  it  was  not  in  the  plat- 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT    163 


form.     If  this  is  not  trickery,  what  is  it  ? 

We  all  know  that  politicians  can  do  nothing  to  help 
the  liquor  men  except  by  using  influence  with  lawmak- 
ers, for  laws  favorable  to  the  liquor  interests.  The 
voters  are  sold  by  the  politicians. 

When  Mr.  Wilson  answered  Mr.  Malone's  question 
as  to  his  being  in  favor  of  prohibition  or  not,  he  was  a 
candidate  for  the  Presidency.  He  was  in  a  beer  man- 
ufacturing city,  and  it  would  have  been  a  serious  mat- 
ter to  proclaim  himself  a  prohibitionist,  so  he  makes 
his  position  clear  by  pronouncing  prohibitionists  hypo- 
crites and  fakes,  and  advised  every  one  to  live  according 
to  his  own  good  judgment.  Mr.  Wilson  unnecessarily, 
and  we  think,  unwisely,  outlined  his  policy  at  this  time 
and  at  this  place  where  his  views  would  be  of  greatest 
advatage  to  him,  and  we  question  his  judgment  in  de- 
nouncing many  great  and  good  men  and  women,  as 
hypocrites  and  fakes. 

Had  he  been  a  tactful  politician,  he  would  have  made 
friends  of  the  beer  dealers,  and  still  retained  his 
friendship  with  the  prohibitionists. 

He  has  gained  the  gratitude,  if  not  the  respect  of 
those  whom  he  favored,  and  has  lost  the  good  will  of 
those  whom  he  insulted. 

Mr.  Wilson  did  not  think,  when  he  made  known  his 
policy  to  the  people  of  Milwaukee,  before  his  election, 


164  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


that  the  echo  would  be  heard  all  over  the  United  States. 

It  would  have  been  better  if  the  prohibitionists  had 
not  heard  the  echo;  it  would  have  made  them  feel  bet- 
ter if  they  had  not  heard  of  his  contempt. 

The  liquor  dealers  were  so  jubilant  that  they  could 
not  refrain  from  shouting  over  Mr.  Wilson's  line  of 
policy,  and  his  taunt  at  the  prohibitionists;  and  Mr. 
Wilson  has  unwisely  placed  himself  on  the  side  of  the 
liquor  men  whose  business  is  a  curse  to  mankind.  In 
duty  to  ourselves  and  to  the  cause  of  temperance  we 
are  obliged  to  regard  him  as  an  adversary. 

And  it  is  our  duty  to  remind  the  advocates  of  temp- 
erance that  we  cannot  expect  very  much  help  from  the 
President  elect.  There  is  not  a  saloon  in  the  land  that 
has  not  heard  or  soon  will  hear  of  Mr.  Wilson's  attitude 
toward  them  and  toward  prohibitionists. 

Why  do  the  liquor  men  shout  so  lustily  over  Mr. 
Wilson's  words? 

Because  he  is  politically,  a  strong  man,  and  a  leader 
of  a  strong  party  and  will  occupy  a  position  where  he 
can  do  much  to  help  the  liquor  men,  or  to  help  the 
prohibitionists,  and  he  has  chose  i  to  snub  the  prohi- 
bitionists. 

For  the  same  reason  that  the  liquor  men  have,  to  re- 
joice, we  feel  it  our  duty  to  give  so  much  attention  to 
this  subject. 


IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT       165 


The  prohibitionists  have  one  strong  hope;  "The  victo- 
ry is  not  always  to  the  strong,  nor  the  race  to  the  swift." 

Samson  was  a  strong  man  and  he  pulled  down  a  house, 
but  he  was  killed  by  its  fall.  Sometimes  men's  very 
strength  causes  their  own  downfall. 

In  the  article  referred  to  it  says  that  Dr.  F.  C.  Howe, 
director  of  the  People's  Institute,  in  a  way  that  was 
pleasing  to  the  wine-growers,  having  as  his  sub- 
ject, 'Law-made  Morality.'  "Speaking  of  the  manner  of 
morals  in  general,  he  said,  that  in  New  York  the  trou- 
ble was  not  with  the  Chief  Executive,  nor  with  the 
ten  thousand  policemen,  and  not  with  the  American 
people,  but  with  those  who  try  to  make  all  good  accord- 
ing to  lines  a  few  people  inist  upon." 

The  report  says  that  he  characterized  the  excise  laws 
as  hypocritical,  and  advocated  greater  frankness  and  lib- 
erality in  liquor  statutes.  We  do  not  know  what  the 
above  means,  unless  it  means  that  there  should  be  more 
liquor  sold,  and  that  the  only  bad  people  in  New  York, 
are  those  who  try  to  good.  The  Doctor  declared  that 
in  Europe  there  was  less  restriction  and  no  drunken- 
ness. The  Doctor  does  not  attempt  to  show  how  more 
liquor  would  cause  less  drunkenness. 

Doctor  Howe's  statement  does  not  agree  with  the 
statement  made  by  others  who  are  much  better  posted 
as  to  drunkenness  in  Europe. 


166        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


We  quote  from  a  report  of  the  Minister  of  the  Interior 
of  European  Russia,  which  is  as  follows:  "More  than 
twelve  thouand  fires  have  occurred  throughout  Europe- 
an Russia  this  year.  The  chief  cause  of  the  epidemic 
is  carelessness  in  handling  fire  which  is  connected  with 
the  great  increase  in  drunkenness."  Either  the  Minis- 
ter is  wrong  or  the  Doctor  was  wrong,  we  think  the 
Minister  is  best  informed.  We  attach  no  importance 
to  such  statements  as  made  by  Dr.  Howe,  but  when 
these  statements  are  made  in  a  convention  of  liquor  deal- 
ers who  absorb  the  statement  as  truth,  and  use  the 
same  to  strengthen  their  position,  we  are  obliged  to  give 
some  attention  to  it.  In  fact  we  have  very  little  else 
but  unauthenticated  statements  to  reply  to. 

The  Court  of  Pardons  in  New  Jersey  consists  of  the 
Governor,  the  Chancellor  and  six  lay  judges  of  the 
Court  of  appeals,  which  met  at  Trenton,  on  Decem- 
ber 23,  1912,  at  which  session  Goveror  Wilson  presided. 
Fify-six  persons  were  pardoned;  and  two  murderers  con- 
demned to  the  electric  chair,  had  their  sentences  com- 
muted to  long  terms  of  imprisonment. 

These  two  men,  while  intoxicated,  shot  and  killed  a 
citizen.  One  of  these  men  was  twenty  and  the  other 
was  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Young,  ripe  fruit  of  the 
saloon,  developed  into  murderers  before  reaching  man- 
hood, "living  according  to  his  own  good  judgment,"  as 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      167 


Prof.  Wilson  advised  all  men  to  do,  but  the  trouble 
is  that  the  saloon  prevents  the  developement  of  good 
judgment  while  in  their  "teens." 

The  lawmakers  who  enact  the  laws  to  licenses  saloons, 
and  the  governor  who  signs  the  the  laws,  under  a  pre- 
tense of  regulating  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  espe- 
cially to  minors,  have  done  their  work  so  well  that 
school  boys  may  drink  and  become  murderers  before 
they  reach  manhood.  Hypocrisy  is  a  pretense  to  be  what 
one  is  not,  or  to  do  what  one  does  not  do.  There 
can  be  no  better  illustration  of  the  word  than  is  found 
in  the  pretense,  and  the  real  action  of  the  lawmakers: 
and  there  can  be  no  better  illustration  of  ''fake  reform" 
that  Mr.  Wilson  speaks  of,  than  the  liquor  laws. 

The  two  murderers  referred  to  would  not  have  com- 
mitted murder  if  they  had  not  been  intoxicated;  and 
they  would  not  have  been  intoxicated  if  the  saloons  had 
not  sold  them  intoxitating  drinks;  and  the  saloons 
would  not  have  sold  them  intoxicating  drink  if  the  law- 
makers and  the  governor  had  not  licensed  them  to  do  it. 

God  created  man  and  breathed  the  breath  of  life  into 
his  nostrils,  and  man  became  a  living  soul.  Not  compar- 
ing either  of  these  parties  with  the  Creator,  but  to  the 
life-giving  power:  the  lawmakers  made  the  laws,  and  the 
Governor  breathed  the  breath  of  life,  into  them,  and 
they  became  living  laws.  Who  is  to  blame? 


168        THE  IRRPERESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


If  the  Governor  had  not  signed  the  enactment, 
it  could  only  become  a  law  by  a  two-thirds  vote  over 
the  Governor's  veto.  The  various  agencies  in  this  case, 
are  the  Governor,  the  lawmakers,  the  saloons  and  the 
intoxicating  liquors;  all  acting  on  innocent  youth:  the  re- 
sult, murder.  Who  is  to  blame? 

The  natural  effect  of  these  agencies:  innocent  boys 
made  murderers,  and  an  innocent  man  killed:  two  of 
New  Jersey's  boys  confined  in  prison  for  many  years  at 
the  expense  of  the  State.  The  lawmakers  are  responsi- 
ble. 

At  the  same  session  of  the  Court  of  Pardons,  anoth- 
er man,  sentenced  to  die  for  killing  his  common-law 
wife,  was  refused  pardon. 

The  logical  inference  is,  that  it  is  less  criminal  to  com- 
mit murder  while  under  the  influence  of  liquor  than  to 
commit  murder  under  the  influence  or  excitement  of 
any  other  passion.  Murder  is  one  of  the  criminal  fruits 
of  the  license  system,  and  no  doubt  the  Governor 
who  was  partially  responsible  for  the  existence  of  the 
saloon,  and  was  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Court,  had 
a  sub-consciousness  that  these  two  boys  were  not  alone 
responsible  for  the  crime  committed  while  intoxicated. 
We  must  again  call  on  Governor  Wilson  to  testify  against 
himself.  In  his  talk  to  the  legislators  he  said  "If  we 
may  speak  plainly  we  are  much  too  free  with  grants 


THE  IRRPERESSIBLE  CONFLICT       169 


and  charters  to  corporations  in  New  Jersey.  A  corpo- 
ration exists  not  by  natural  right,  but  by  license  of  law, 
and  the  law,  if  you  look  at  the  matter  in  good  consci- 
ence, is  responsible  for  what  it  creates." 

Any  man  who  does  not  know  that  intoxication  incites 
to  murder,  is  too  simple  to  occupy  a  high  position  in 
state  affairs,  and  any  man  occupying  a  high  position, 
and  knowing  that  intoxication  causes  murder  and  other 
crimes,  and  makes  or  sign  a  law  permitting  and  caus- 
ing intoxication,  is  not  entirely  innocent. 
We  cannot  get  away  from  cause  and  effect.  Every 
effect  has  its  cause  and  the  same  cause  will  always  pro- 
duce the  same  effect. 

During  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1912,  when  Mr. 
Wilson  was  a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  in  answer 
to  a  question  in  regard  to  his  standing  on  temperance 
and  the  saloon  system,  he  evasively  answered  that  the 
matter  was  a  question  of  morals  and  religion  and  had 
no  part  in  politics.  In  one  sense  politicians  have  no 
part  in  moral  and  religious  matters,  which  accounts  for 
many  things  they  do.  The  fact  remains  that  licenses 
and  saloons  are  matters  of  sufficient  political  nature  to 
justify  the  lawmakers  in  making  laws  to  establish  saloons 
and  to  license  rumsellers 

It  is  simple  nonsense  to  deny  that  any  matter  that 
a  subject  to  legislation,  is  a  political  matter. 


170  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


The  abolition  of  saloons  and  licenses  formed  the  chief 
plank  in  the  Prohibition  platform,  and  was  regarded  by 
the  state  and  other  political  parties,  as  a  party. 

It  is  true  there  was  no  issue  between  the  Republicans 
and  the  Democrats,  on  this  question,  but  parties  join 
issue  on  such  matters  as  they  disagree  on;  but  on  the 
liquor  business,  these  two  parties  agree. 

Mr.  Wilson  must  see  that  by  making  it  the  duty  of 
the  Church  to  fight  the  saloons,  he  gives  the  saloons  a 
bad  reputation.  If  he  thinks  that  the  destruction  of  the 
liquor  business  is  work  for  the  Church,  he  certainly 
ought  to  be  interested  as  a  church  member. 

If  the  evils  of  the  saloon  business  are  to  be  overcome 
by  Christian  and  church  workers,  it  certainly  seems  a  lit- 
tle out  of  harmony  for  the  lawmakers  to  make  work  for 
the  church.  Mr.  Wilsons's  sentiments,  so  emphatically 
expressed  assured  the  brewers  and  liquor  dealers  that 
he  would  do  no  harm  to  their  business,  and  by  this 
assurance  he  gained  many  votes  and  possibly,  his  elec- 
tion. 

We  give  one  more  illustration  to  show  the  evasiveness 
of  politicians  who  are  seeking  office;  and  to  show  sam- 
ple of  the  fruit  of  the  "Political  Vintage." 

On  October  22.  while  Mr.  Sulzer,  the  candidate  for 
Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  was  addressing  a 
meeting  of  farmers  at  Watertown,  was  asked  by  a  lady, 


On  October  22,  while  Mr.  Sulzer,  the  candidate  for 
Governor  for  the  state  of  New  York,  was  addressing 
a  meeting  of  farmers  at  Watertown,  New  York,  he 
was  asked  by  a  lady  having  the  courage  ot  her  convic- 
tions, how  he  stood  on  the  state  being  "half  drunk  and 
half  sober."  Mr.  Sulzer  asked  the  lady  to  repeat  the 
question,  in  order  to  give  him  time  to  think.  Mr.  Sul- 
zer knew  very  well  that  the  lady  wished  to  know  how 
he  stood  on  the  saloon  question;  but  not  wishing  to 
commit  himself  on  that  question  for  fear  he  would  lose 
votes  of  the  liquor  men,  if  his  reply  was  unfavorable  to 
their  business,  or  the  votes  of  temperance  people  if  his 
reply  was  favorable  to  the  saloons;  replied  to  the  ques- 
tion asked  by  the  lady,  insultingly  evasive.  He  said  "I 
am  intensly  in  favor  of  liberty." 

The  question  asked  related  to  the  establishment  of  sa- 
loons which  is  not  a  question  of  liberty. 

Mr.  Sulzer  also  knew  that  there  never  was  a  ques- 
tion as  to  any  man's  liberty  to  drink  if  he  wanted  to. 

Mr.  Sulzer   publicly  insulted  the  lady  by  anwering  a 
question   she  had  too  much   sense  to  ask;  and  put  up 
a  shout  for  liberty,    so  dear  to    every    American,    and 
thus,  at  the  expense  of  the  lady,  impress  upon  his    hear- 
ers, his  own  patriotism. 

Mr.  Sulzer  knew  very  well  what  the  lady  meant  by 
her  question,  and  he  also  knew  what  the  effect  of 


172        THE  IRRPERESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


an    honest   reply  would  have    on  the  number  of    votes 
cast. 

David  B.  Hill,  once  governor  of  the  state  of  New  York, 
was  honest  when  he  said  he  would  rather  have  the  sup- 
port of  the  saloons  than  the  support  of  the  churches. 

I  imagine  Mr.  Hill  did  not  mean  to  express  a  prefer- 
ence for  saloons  as  against  the  church;  but  that 
the  saloonists  would  all  vote  for  their  own  interests, 
while  church  people  would  not. 

Church  membership  embraces  representatives  of  all 
political  faiths,  and,  to  their  shame  be  it  said,  when  it 
comes  to  election;  party  affiliation  is  stronger  than  the 
ties  that  bind  them  to  the  Church. 
They  reason  that  there  is  only  one  election  day  in  the 
year  and  three  hundred  and  sixty- four  days  to  pray  for 
the  good  of  the  country.  They  forget  taat  those  who 
make  our  laws  and  guide  the  destiny  of  our  country  are 
chosen  by  our  vote,  and  that  election  day  is  the  only  day 
of  the  year  we  have  to  answer  our  own  prayers. 

I  have  great  faith  in  prayer;  but  we  are  taught  that 
we  are  to  show  our  faith  by  our  works. 

When  Jesus  taught  his  disciples  to  pray  "give  us  this 
day  our  daily  bread"  He  did  not  mean  to  encourage  idle- 
ness or  that  we  should  fold  our  arms  and  open  our 
mouths  to  be  fed  with  bread.  We  should  be  willing  to 
answer  our  own  prayers  when  we  have  an  opportunity. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT        173 


the  farmer  ought  to  pray,  at  least  a  season  in  advance; 
in  seed  time  pray  for  his  daily  bread,  and  go  out  and 
plant  his  seed  and  in  due  time  he  would  be  fed.  But  if 
he  prays  for  bread  and  does  nothing  to  earn  it,  he  is 
a  tramp  who  begs  for  what  he  might  earn  by  his  labor, 
and  is  imposing  on  the  goodness  the  Father.  So  when  a 
Christian  prays  "Thy  Kingdom  come,"  for  three  hundred 
and  sixty  four  days,  ought  to  go  out  on  election  day  and 
vote  for  such  men  and  such  measures  as  will  advance 
God's  Kingdom  on  earth,  or  he  ought  to  stop  praying. 

His  action  on  this  one  day  is  a  test  of  the  sincerity  of 
his  prayers. 

John  Franklin  Fort,  former  governor  of  New  Jersey, 
in  addressing  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  of  Newark,  New  jersey, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  twenty  seventh  anniverary  of  that 
association,  warned  the  Churches  that  if  they  would 
protect  the  youths,  they  must  keep  them  out  of  the  sa- 
loons which  throw  their  doors  open  every  day  and  much 
of  the  night  as  a  meeting  place  for  young  and  old  men. 
Governor  Fort  condemns  the  saloon  as  an  institution 
that  corrupts  youth;  and  according  to  the  principle  of 
liability  as  given  to  the  Legislature  by  Governor  Wilson, 
the  "lawmakers  are  responsible  for  what  they  create 
and  for  what  they  ought  to  abolish." 

There  is  not  a  doubt  that  the    saloons  are  evils  and 
it  is  certain  that  they  are  established  by  the  lawmakers. 


174  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


Governor  Wilson  in  his  reply  to  Mr.  Burke's  ques- 
tion as  to  Mr.  Wilson's  position  on  the  saloon  busi- 
ness said  it  was  a  moral  and  religious  matter,  and  here 
we  find  a  very  peculiar  state  of  affairs:  The  saloons  es- 
tablished by  the  s'ate  are  of  such  deadly  peril  to  youth, 
that  the  Church  must  rescue  them  from  the  state. 

If  the  Devil  had  brought  this  curse  upon  us  we  would 
detest  him  more  than  we  now  do,  if  possible,  but  this 
is  the  work  of  the  lawmakers.  It  would  be  better  if 
the  Devil  was  the  author  of  the  curse  for  in  that  case 
the  lawmakers  could  join  with  the  Church  in  the  fight 
agains  the  saloon.  The  saloon  business  is  in  line  with 
the  Devil's  business;  and  logically,  the  Devil  and  the 
lawmakers  are  allies  flighting  agains  right. 

Instead  of  the  state  protecting  the  boys  of  the  state 
from  temptation,  it  is  placing  temptations  on  every  spot 
where  a  saloon  can  be  made  to  prosper,  and  a  man  who 
is  wicked  enough,  can  be  found  to  run  it.  We  ques- 
tion the  morality  of  a  man  who  is  willing  to  engage  in  a 
business  that  destroys  the  morals  of  their  patrons,  and 
shuts  their  souls  out  of  Heaven. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      175 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  Mayor  of  New  York  City. 

We  quote  from  The  Tribune  of  March  4th,  1913,  the 
following:  "Mayor  Gaynor  attended  a  Fresh-water  dinner 
last  night,  given  by  the  Young  Men's  Club  of  Sommer- 
ville  Methodist  Church,  of  Brooklyn  at  the  Hotel 
Mohawk,  in  the  Borough. 

He  informed  his  audience  that  he  had  done  something 
in  the  city  that  had  never  been  done  before,  and  that  was 
to  close  all  the  bar-rooms  on  Sunday. 

He  offered  a  prize  to  any  one  finding  for  him  a 
a  bar-room  open  on  any  of  the  three  coming  Sundays. 

He  also  said  he  would  bestow  a  prize  on  the  lucky 
mortal  who  saw  any  one  drinking  in  the  bar-rooms  on 
those  days. 

The  Mayor  further  said  "New  York  City  was  the 
greatest  foreign  city  in  the  world  and  the  population 
was  made  up  of  all  kinds  of  people  who  had  to  be  gov- 
erned accordingly.  Now,  if  the  Methodists,  he  told  his 
hearers,  could  get  them  to  spend  Sundays  on  the 
benches  of  the  churches,  that  was  perfectly  satisfactory 
to  him:  but  if  they  told  him  he  ought  to  drive  them 
there  with  a  policeman's  club,  he  begged  to  tell  them 
he  ought  not. 


176  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


Mr.  Gay  nor  further  said  "you  can't  teach  religion  or 
morality  by  force,  you  must  do  it  by  persuasion,  and 
that  will  take  a  long  time.  You  can't  do  it  all,  you  will 
have  to  leave  some  of  it  for  your  childreu  so  they  will 
not  be  lonesome  for  something  to  do."  The  Mayor  asks: 
Can  you  stop  a  man  from  drinking  on  Sundays  if  he 
wants  to?  "You  may  by  getting  at  his  heart  and  making 
him  love  water  more  than  beer,  but  you  can't  do  it  by 
force."  The  Mayor  continues:  "In  no  nation  on  the 
continent  of  Europe  did  they  ever  hear  of  such  a  thing 
as  not  drinking  on  Sunday,  yet  they  go  to  church  a  lot 
more  than  they  do  here  in  Brooklyn.  No  such  law  was 
ever  passed  in  the  world  until  it  was  passed  over  here, 
except  in  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland  the  law  closes 
the  bar  during  church  hours;  but  over  here  we  have  to 
keep  our  saloons  closed  all  day  Sunday.  But  that  same 
law  permits  us  to  join  the  Union  League  club,  and 
there  we  can  swig  all  day.  I  don't  see  why  we  who  can 
afford  to  join  the  club  should  swig  grog  on  Sunday  any 
more  than  the  man  who  has  to  buy  his  at  the  saloon." 
The  Mayor  said  much  more,  touching  upon  other  mat- 
ters, but  nothing  more  that  we  care  to  quote. 

We  would,  however,  note  that  the  remainder  of  his 
remarks  were  more  interesting  to  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  editors  of  newspapers  who  had  expressed  sen- 
timents not  favorable  to  to  the  mayor. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT        177 


He  failed  to  say  one  unkind  word  against  the  beer 
business  or  againt  any  one  connected  with  it. 

Those  of  my  readers  who  have  had  experience  in  the 
use  of  tools,  know  how  hard  it  is  to  bore  holes  with  an 
auger,  in  a  piece  of  rotten  wood.  The  difficulty  is,  there 
is  not  solidity  enough  in  the  rotten  wood  for  the  auger 
to  catch  hold  of  so  that  the  bit  may  be  drawn  in. 

This  is  the  case  with  the  Mayor's  speech,  there  is  not 
reason  or  argumeut  or  consistency  enough  to  apply  com- 
monsense  argument  to  it. 

But,  as  the  Mayor  has  used  the  dignity  of  his  office, 
and  the  influence  of  his  high  standing  as  a  lawyer  and 
Judge,  to  strengthen  the  stronghold  of  our  adversaries, 
it  becomes  our  duty  to  give  attention  to  his  words. 

We  are  surprised  that  the  Mayor  should  be  guilty  of 
such  bad  taste  as  to  make  such  an  appeal  for  the  open 
saloon,  on  Sundays,  at  a  Fresh  water  dinner,  given  by 
the  Young  Men's  Club  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

The  arguments  presented  by  the  advocates  of  liquor, 
are  of  the  weakest  kind,  for  the  reason  that  there  are 
no  strong  arguments  that  can  be  given.  The  lawmak- 
ers themselves  can  give  no  stronger  argument. 

The  Mayor  says  you  may  by  getting  at  the  heart  and 
making  him  love  water  better  than  beer,  prevent  a  man 
from  drinking  beer,  but  you  cannot  do  it  by  force.  In 
the  next  breath  he  says  he  stopped  the  sale  of  drinks  in 


178  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


every  bar-room  in  New  York,  and  offered  a  reward  to 
one  showing  him  an  opon  bar-room  in  the  next  three 
weeks,  on  Sunday.  Did  the  Mayor  touch  the  hearts  of 
the  drinkers?  Did  he  make  them  love  water  better  than 
beer  ?  If  he  did  stop  drinking  on  two  Sundays,  and 
will  do  it  for  three  Sundays  more  he  will  do  it  by  force. 

If  he  does  it  for  five  Sundays  he  can  do  it  for  five 
more,  by  using  the  same  mean. 

In  boasting  of  his  achievements,  he  acknowledges  his 
ability,  therefore,  his  responsibility,  and  the  people  of 
New  York  should  look  to  him  to  continue  the  exercise  of 
his  power  to  keep  the  saloons  closed  every  Sunday. 

Mr.  Gaynor  says  that  in  Europe,  the  saloons  are 
open  all  day  on  Sunday;  and  that  the  percentage  of 
Church  attendance  is  much  higher  than  it  is  in  this 
Country.  The  inference  is  that  the  saloon  open  on  Sun- 
day promotes  Christianity  and  increases  Church  attend- 
ance. In  most  Countries  of  Europe,  the  church  re- 
quires its  members  to  attend  church  punctually,  but  at 
the  same  time  allows  greater  liberty  to  its  members 
after  services.  But  this,  if  true,  is  no  argument  in  fa- 
vor of  saloons  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  the  people  of 
those  countries  are  superior  to  the  people  of  our  own 
country,  and  that  the  Sunday  saloon  is  the  cause  of  that 
superiority.  I  have  no  doubt  that  a  saloon  in  the 
church  vestibule  would  increase  the  attendance. 


THE  IRRPERESSIBLE  CONFLICT       179 


It  is  the  nature  of  sinners  to  keep  away  from  Church 
where  their  sins  are  rebuked,    but    not    rebuked,    they 
would  be  very  comfortable  in  church. 

If  the  saloons  are  open  all  day  Sundays  the  patron  of 
the  saloon  can  well  spare  a  few  minutes  between  drinks 
to  attend  Church.  I  suppose  that  the  Church  might  be 
so  changed  in  its  doctrines,  and  requirements,  that  the 
Devil  might  become  a  consistent  member;  but  if  the 
Church  be  transformed  to  conform  to  the  bar-room,  how 
much  better  would  the  Church  be  than  the  bar-room? 
The  Mayor  says  that  we  must  convert  a  man  and  make 
him  like  water  better  than  beer.  Water  quenches 
thirst,  but  beer  creates  thirst.  Mr.  Gaynor  knows  that 
his  proposition  is  nonsensical. 

Does  Mr.  Gaynor  think  that  to  stop  graft  he  must  first 
convert  the  grafter  and  make  him  love  honesty  better 
than  money  ? 

If  the  Mayor  thinks  that,  he  should  have  been  out 
with  his  missionaries,  preaching  to  grafters  to  convert 
them.  District  attorney  Whitman  has  found  the  proper 
way  to  abolish  graft  without  converting  the  hearts  of  the 
grafters.  The  Mayor  says  that  when  he  became  Mayor 
the  saloons  were  paying  graft  to  the  amount  of  two  hun- 
dred fifty  millions  a  year,  and  that  not  one  dollar  is  be- 
ing paid  to  day.  This  condition  has  been  brought  about 
by  Mr.  Whitman,  without  the  Mayor's  aid. 


180  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


If  the  Mayor  has  done  it,  he  has  done  it  through  the 
silent  influences  upon  the  hearts  of  the  grafters,  for  there 
has  been  no  effort  by  force,  visible  to  the  naked  eye. 
Let  us  note  right  here,  that  two  hundred  and  fifty  mill- 
ions dollars  per  year,  of  graft  that  the  mayor  found 
in  the  city,  is  just  so  much  evidence  that  the  saloon 
is  a  thing  of  great  evil,  for  there  is  no  good  thing  on 
earth  that  graft  can  be  levied  upon.  You  may  levy 
graft  on  crooked,  illegal  business,  but  not  on  honest,  up- 
right business. 

There  are  no  greater  evils,  against  which  the  city  has 
to  contend,  than  the  evils  of  the  saloon. 

Any  one  who  has  attended  the  Police  Courts,  has 
noticed  the  large  number  of  arrests  made  during 
the  night,  charged  with  being  drunk  and  disorderly: 
(  "D.  D.")  This  is  the  case  in  every  precinct. 

Thousands  of  others  who  have  not  been  arrested 
were  drunk  and  disorderly:  and  thousands  of  others  were 
too  drunk  to  be  disorderly.  All  this  adds  to  the  ex- 
pense and  the  difficulty  of  governing  the  city,  and  adds 
to  the  mayor's  duties;  yet  the  Mayor  would  give  one 
more  day  to  the  open  saloon. 

Because  there  are  no  more  working  days  in  the 
week,  the  Mayor  would  cut  off  a  portion  of  the  Lord's 
day  to  enrich  the  saloonists.  He  says  that  the  cause  of 
graft  was  a  too  rigid  enforcement  of  the  laws. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT      181 


This  is  the  rottenest  spot  in  the  wood.  If  the  laws 
were  stricly  enforced,  there  was  no  illegal  selling,  then 
why  did  any  one  pay  graft?  Was  it  because  they  were  o- 
beying  the  law?  And,  if  after  Mr.  Gaynor  came  into 
office  they  were  laxly  enforced,  why  was  it  necessary  to 
pay  graft? 

We  think  that  the  laws  were  not  rigidly  enforced,  and 
that  graft  was  paid  that  they  might  not  be  enforced. 

Before  dismissing  this  subject  we  must  call  Mr.  Gay- 
nor's  attention  to  the  fact  that  he  and  the  people  who 
advocate  the  abolition  of  the  saloon,  are  not  talking  on 
the  same  subject  He  is  talking  about  preventing  indi- 
viduals drinking,  while  we  are  talking  about  abolishing 
the  saloon. 

We  know  that  so  long  as  the  saloons  exist,  it  will  be 
impossible  to  prevent  men  from  drinking.  But  we  also 
know  that  if  the  saloons  were  out  of  existence  it  would 
be  difficult  for  the  individual  to  drink. 

The  saloons  that  now  exist  will  cease  to  exist,  at  the 
expiration  of  their  licenses,  and  if  no  new  licenses  are 
granted,  and  no  old  one  is  renewed,  the  saloons  will 
die  a  natural  death. 

A  stroke  by  President  Lincoln's  pen  abolished  slavery, 
that  had  existed  over  two  hundred  year;  and  immotal- 
ized  his  name.  What  man,  or  what  body  of  men  will 
sieze  the  opportunity  to  immotalize  their  names  ? 


182        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


The  drinkers  and  drunkards  are  not  the  ones  who 
are  clamoring  for  the  saloon;  many  of  them  would  be 
glad  if  the  saloons  were  out  of  existence,  that  they 
might  be  able  to  redeem  their  manhood. 

The  brewers  and  the  liquor  dealers  are  interest- 
ed and  it  is  to  them  that  the  lawmakers  cater. 

Mr.  Gaynor  claims  that  he  stopped  graft  in  New 
York,  and  that  he  closed  the  saloons  on  Sundays.  We 
did  not  know  that  he  had  done  this,  but  we  believe  he 
can  close  them  if  he  will,  and  if  he  does  not  close  them 
he  will  be  to  blame.  A  strong  man,  being  right  and 
having  authority,  can  do  great  things  if  he  has  the  will. 
When  the  great  fire  occurred  in  San  Francisco  in  1906, 
all  was  confusion,  and  looters  took  advantage  of  the  sit- 
uation, and  began  to  help  themselves  to  goods  in  the 
streets  which  were  not  properly  guarded.  The  following 
is  part  of  a  description  of  the  condition  as  given  by 
a  correspondent,  as  published  in  the  New  York  Sun  of 
April  26,  1906:  "The  sale  of  sarsaparilla  and  ginger  ale 
are  the  only  drinks  procurable  just  now  in  the  city,  ex- 
cept water.  The  sale  of  liquor  has  been,  and  now  is 
absolutely  suppressed,  and  the  absence  of  disorder  has 
been  marvelous,  considering  the  chaotic  conditions." 

This  report  is  not  made  for  its  bearing  on  the  tem- 
perance question,  but  as  a  fact  worthy  of  note. 

The  mayor  knew  that  under  such   chaotic   conditions, 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT     183 


the  free  use  of  liquors  would  add  ten-fold  to  the  diffi- 
culties and  confusion,  and  having  this  knowledge,  and  a 
strong  will  to  control  the  situation,  cut  off,  not  only  the 
sale,  but  the  use  of  all  liquors. 

The  use  of  liquors  incites  people  to  evil  deeds,  and 
when  used  in  connection  with  other  excitement,  it  pro- 
duces in  the  drinker,  a  condition  that  cannot  be  con- 
trolled except  by  force. 

The  mayor  of  San  Francisco,  suppressed  the  liquor 
traffic,  not  only  for  two  Sundays,  as  mayor  Gaynor  said 
he  did  in  New  York,  but  for  several  weeks,  week  days 
and  Sundays.  Both  of  these  mayors  showed  what  they 
could  do  if  inclined  to  act. 

The  mayor  of  San  Francisco,  followed  his  own  common 
sense,  as  is  the  practice  of  every  mayor  and  sheriff  in 
cases  of  riot  or  other  occasions  of  excitement,  and  all 
testify  by  this  act,  that  liquor  is  a  dangerous  element, 
even  when  there  is  no  excitement  to  contend  with. 

In  the  case  of  San  Francisco,  the  saloons  were  first 
put  out  of  business;  and  then  it  was  easy  to  suppress  its 
use  by  individuals. 


184  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  Dog. 

A  man  had  an  old  dog  that  would  rather  stay  in 
the  house  than  to  go  out  door:  his  master  told  the  dog 
to  go  out  door,  but  the  dog  went  under  the  bed;  the 
master  then  said  "go  under  the  bed  then,  for  I  will  be 
obeyed." 

The  authorities  in  New  York  and  in  many  other  cities 
have  forbidden  the  sale  of  liquors  on  Sundays,  but  the 
saloon  men,  like  the  dog,  refuse  to  obey.  "Well"  say 
the  authorities;  "if  you  will  not  obey  the  laws,  we  will 
change  the  law  and  allow  you  to  sell  on  Sunday,  for  we 
will  be  obeyed." 

The  master  of  the  dog  will  be  obeyed,  and  the  ambi- 
tious, but  weak  mayor  will  be  obeyed  and  both  act  on 
the  principle  that  where  there  is  no  law  there  is  no 
transgression. 

This  principle  applies  with  equal  force  and  propriety, 
to  any  vice  that  can  be  mentioned.  It  is  the  same  prin- 
ciple that  spoils  children,  whose  parents  cannot  make 
them  obey;  and  shows  weakness  of  the  ruler. 

There  are  men  who  could,  and  would,  if  in  power,  en- 
force every  law,  or  know  the  reason  why. 

Laws  should  be  just  and  strictly  enforced. 


185 


The  proposal  to  give  the  liquor  dealers  more  liberty 
and  less  liability,  is  not  urged  by  the  those  who  drink, 
but  by  those  who  sell;  and  the  people  demand  a  reason 
for  giving  more  liberty. 

If  the  demand  were  made  by  those  who  drink,  and 
if  habitual  drinkers  cannot  get  along  from  Saturday 
night  until  Monday  morning  without  alcoholic  drink, 
it  is  high  time  that  the  saloons  were  annihilated,  or  al- 
coholic fiends  will  be  as  drug  fiends. 

The  principle  of  changing  laws,  to  suit  the  pleasure  of 
those  who  violate  them,  encourages  evilly  inclined  per- 
sons to  violate  the  law  for  the  sake  of  the  change  that 
may  be  brought  about  by  disobedience,  and  cultivates  a 
disregard  for  law  and  a  contempt  for  lawmakers  and 
executives. 

The  police  calls  ''stop  thief,"  but  the  thief  does  not 
stop,  and  the  policeman  says  "do  not  stop  for  I  will  be 
obeyed."  The  policeman  loses  respect  for  himself,  and 
the  thief  holds  him  in  contempt.  Respect  for  any  law 
depends  upon  its  justice  and  the  manner  in  which  it  is 
enforced. 

Many  years  ago  a  teacher  took  charge  of  a  village 
school  in  the  state  of  New  York.  Four  other  Principals 
in  three  weeks  had  tried  their  hands,  and  were  forced  to 
give  it  up  because  of  their  inability  to  govern  the  pupils. 

In  those  years,  school  age  was  not  limited  as  it  now 


187 


is,  and  many  who  were  beyond  their  "teens"  attended 
the  public  school.  The  Delaware  and  Hudson  canal  pass- 
ed through  the  village,  and  the  older  boys  worked  on 
the  canal  in  the  Summer  and  attended  school  in  the 
winter.  The  schooling  on  the  canal  was  quite  different 
from  the  village  school,  but  the  boys  liked  it  better. 

The  new  Principal  allowed  himself  one  day  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  boys,  and  to  size  up  the  situation. 

The  pupils  also  made  good  use  of  the  day  to  take  the 
Principal's  measure.  When  the  second  day  opened  the 
boys  were  ready  to  rebel.  The  exercise  began  with  a 
rush  of  over  a  dozen  of  the  largest  boys,  for  the  Princi- 
pal. The  evercise  lasted  about  sixteen  minutes,  when 
the  rebels  surrendered  and  the  Principal  stood  on  the 
platform,  "monarch  of  all  he  surveyed." 

Later  in  the  day,  an  angry  parent  of  one  of  the  boys 
who  had  been  engaged  in  the  affair,  came  in  the  room 
with  a  leather  whip  known  as  a  "blacksnake"  and 
walked  up  to  the  platform,  swearing,  and  threatening 
and  when  he  reached  the  platform,  and  looked  at  the 
Principal  he  stood  still  for  a  moment,  casting  his  eyes 
on  the  principal  and  viewing  him  from  head  to  foot, 
suddenly  turned  on  his  heel  and  swore  himself  out 
of  the  room.  Meanwhile  the  Principal  stood  with  fold- 
ed arms  and  made  not  a  move  and  spoke  not  a  word. 

This  incident  settled  the  question  of  authority. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT        187 


The  third  day  of  school  opened  with  the  same  pupils, 
and  the  same  Principal.  The  same  pupils,  but  wonder- 
fully changed  to  perfect  gentlemen.  They  and  the 
Principal  were  on  the  best  of  terms.  The  Principal  re- 
mained in  that  school  for  four  years,  and  then  went  to 
a  better  field,  much  to  the  regret  of  his  many  friends. 
This  little  incident  is  given  to  show  that  unenforced  laws 
and  weak  authority  breed  contempt,  and  a  just  enforce- 
ment of  just  laws,  create  a  respect  for  law  and  author- 
ity. It  also  shows  how  much  depends  upon  the  person 
whose  duty  it  is  to  enfore  the  laws.  And  it  further 
shows  that  he  wbo  is  in  power  and  does  not  command 
respect  by  enforcing  the  laws,  is  not  the  right  man  in 
the  right  place. 

Mayor  Gaynor  in  one  of  his  speeches  expressed  the 
idea  that  the  population  of  New  York  city,  being  cos- 
mopolitan in  character,  representing  all  the  nations 
throughout  the  world,  who  had  lived  under  different 
forms  of  government;  and  under  different  religious  and 
social  influences,  that  some  modification  of  the  govern- 
ment should  be  made  so  that  it  should,  in  some  degree, 
conform  to  the  customs  of  the  nations  from  which  these 
people  came. 

The  village  school,  say  of  three  hundred  pupils,  is  a 
community  of  representatives  of  a  hundred  different 
families,  from  which  these  pupils  come,  and  these  fam- 


188         THB  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


ilies  are  of  different  nationalities. 

The  home  governments  of  these  families  are  as  differ- 
ent from  each  other  as  the  national  governments  of  New 
York's  foreign  population.  Some  families  have  no  gov- 
ernment and  the  children  are,  to  an  extent,  anarchists. 
If  we  regard  these  several  families  from  which  these 
children  come,  as  foreigners,  and  the  school  as  the  gov- 
ernment, the  population  is  as  cosmopolitan  as  New 
York's  population. 

The  school  government  cannot  take  into  consideration 
the  peculiarities  of  the  families  from  which  these  child- 
ren come,  but  it  must  be  a  government  exactly  fitted  to 
the  successful  school:  and,  for  the  very  reason  that  the 
pupils  are  subjects  of  foreign  governments,  (  that  is  fam- 
ily governments  )  the  rules  and  regulations  should  be 
just,  and  strictly  enforced.  It  is  so  with  cities  whose 
population  is  cosmopolitan:  The  government  should  be 
positive  and  just. 

No  government  can  be  just,  that  gives  privileges  to 
one  man  that  is  refused  to  another  because  the  one  is 
a  saloonist  and  the  other  is  not. 

The  privileged  few  make  more  trouble  than  the  many 
who  have  no  privileges. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT        189 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  Sabbath  and  Man. 

A  writer  who  signs  himself  "Presbyterian"  contributes 
through  the  New  York  Tribune  of  July  17,  1913,  the 
following: 

"The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  why  should  he  not 
enioy  it  ?" 

"To  the  Editor  of  The  New  York  Tribune: 

Sir;  Appreciation  of  the  stand  taken  by  Mayor  Gay- 
nor  in  regard  lo  Sunday  games  and  recreation  ahould 
call  forth  the  commendation  of  every  intelligent  citizen 
and  suburbanite.     The  time  for  Puritanical  superstition 
is    past,  and  the  Bible,  pure  and  simple,  should  be    ac- 
cepted. "The  Sabbath  was   made    for  man."    Why  not 
let  him  enjoy  it  as   his  own  conscience  approves,  after 
his  six  days  of  labor,  unless  he  violates  the  city's  laws? 
Some  day  this  free  country  will  look  back  with  horror 
to  the  "no  recreation  Sabbath,"  as   it   now  looks  back 
to  the  cruelties  of  witchcraft  and  other  false  interpreta- 
tions of  God's  loving  laws." 

Signed: 

Milburn,  N.  J.  A  Presbyterian. 


190        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 

We  give  our  attention  to  this  contribution  for  several 
reasons.  The  writer  has  signed  "Presbyterian"  to  give 
greater  importance  to  his  sentiments  than  his  own  name 
would  give,  and  give  the  impression  that  it  is  Presbyte- 
rian sentiment  that  the  Sabbath  should  be  used  for  rec- 
reation and  not  as  God  commanded  "to  keep  it  holy." 
The  writer  of  the  article  referred  to,  says  the  stand 
that  Mayor  Gaynor  has  taken  in  regard  to  Sunday  a- 
musement  should  receive  the  commendation  of  every 
citizen  and  suburbanite.  The  Milburn  Presbyterian 
classes  God's  command  "to  keep  the  Sabbath  day  holy," 
with  witchcraft,  forgetting  that  it  was  God  who  gave  the 
command.  But  he  gives  mayor  Gaynor  the  credit  of 
discovering  God's  mistake.  I  am  very  sure  that  "Pres- 
byterian" in  his  effort  to  please,  has  crowded  Mayor 
Gaynor  into  a  position  that  he  would  not  voluntarily 
place  himself  in  We  do  not  believe  that  he  classes 
any  of  God's  commands  with  superstition  and  witchcraft; 
but  we  do  believe  that  his  remarks  and  the  stand  he 
has  taken  on  Sunday  amusements  and  Sunday  liquor- 
selling,  influenced  "Presbyterian"  to  express  the  senti- 
ments he  did,  and  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Gaynor's  position 
has  had  its  effect  upon  hundreds  of  men  who  have  been 
wishing  that  Sunday  need  not  be  so  strictly  observed. 

*'A  drop  of  ink  makes  millions  think."  One  should 
be  careful  of  what  one  writes. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT         191 


The  subject  of  Sabbath  observance  on  general  prin- 
ciples is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  book,  but  we  wish 
to  record  ourselves  as  believing  in  the  commandments 
as  given  in  the  Bible. 

It  is  true  that  man  was  not  made  (for  the  good  of) 
the  Sabbath,  and  it  is  true  that  the  Sabbath  was  made 
for  (the  good  of)  man.  We  believe  that  when  Jesus 
said  "Man  was  not  made  for  the  Sabbath,  but  the  Sab- 
bath was  made  for  man,"  He  did  not  change  the  com- 
mand "to  keep  it  holy." 

Take  the  Sabbath  out  of  our  lives,  and  we  lose  all 
the  institutions  of  the  Sabbath,  and  we  will  be  no  bet- 
ter than  heathen.  If  every  one  keeps  the  commands 
of  God,  I  shall  feel  perfectly  safe;  and  if  I  keep  His 
commands,  no  one  need  be  afraid  of  me.  And  if  we 
all  keep  the  commands,  we  will  be  safe  from  each  other, 
and  we  will  then  know  that  all  of  God's  commands  were 
made  for  man's  good.  Man  was  not  made  for  the  laws 
of  New  York,  but  the  laws  were  made  for  man. 

If  we  reverse  the  conditions  and  let  every  man  do  as 
he  may  desire,  none  of  us  would  be  safe  from  the  others. 

Before  changing  the  meaning  or  lessening  the  obli- 
gations of  His  commands,  I  would  advise  "Presbyterian" 
to  talk  the  matter  over  with  God. 


192         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


If  a  man  works  six  days  in  the  week,  dissipates  six 
nights  and  desecrates  the  seventh,  he  is  not  doing  his 
best  for  himself;  and  he  is  not  apt  to  do  his  best  at 
his  business  the  following  week. 

Sabbath  is  a  good  day  to  become  acquainted  with 
God's  word,  and  if  we  do  this  it  will  do  us  more  good 
than  to  see  a  ball  game. 

We  have  said  more  than  we  intended  to  say,  but  we 
see  in  the  article  referred  to,  and  in  the  stand  taken  by 
Mayor  Gaynor,  an  effort  to  school  the  public  sentiment, 
step  by  step,  until  public  sentiment  will  not  oppose  the 
open  saloon  on  Sunday. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT          193 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Our  Republic. 

Our  Government  being  a  Republic,  in  which  the  right 
of  the  people  to  rule  themselves  has  been  delegated  to 
representatives,  and  by  this  act,  the  people  have  made 
themselves  as  powerless  as  the  subjects  of  an  Absolute 
Monarchy. 

The  self-appointed  leaders  get  together  before  elec- 
tion, and  formulate  such  policies  the  as  they  think 
can  win  the  eletion,  which  they  call  The  Platform. 

In  due  time  the  platform  is  prsesented  and  explained 
and  we  find  it  is  just  what  we  want,  although  we  do 
not  understand  a  word  of  it. 

After  our  representatives  are  elected  they  laugh  at 
us  and  perhaps  send  us  a  few  garden  seeds  to  keep  our 
favor  until  the  next  election. 

An  Absolute  monarch  would  think  too  much  of  his 
own  safety  to  vex  his  subjects  too  much. 

When  we  voted  for  our  candidate  we  did  not  think 
we  were  voting  for  the  brewers  and  the  saloons. 

Our  representatives  were  elected  to  look  after  the 
welfare  of  all  whom  they  represent,  but  they  have 


194        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


made  and  maintained  laws  that  injure  every  individual  of 
the  State  except  a  very  few. 

We  do  not  consider  the  drunkards  as  a  part  of  the 
active  forces  against  the  aboiiton  of  the  saloon,  but  as 
tools  in  the  hands  of  the  brewers  and  lawmakers. 

When  men  have  gone  so  far  in  their  own  destruction, 
there  is  nothing  that  can  influence  them  to  vote  against 
the  saloon.  Nothing  can  be  expected  of  men  who  have 
lost  all  hope  and  all  desire  except  to  gratify  their  appe- 
tites. The  brewers  and  lawmakers  make  use  of  these 
men  who  are  not  actuated  by  desire  for  public  welfare 
nor  for  their  own  good;  and  marshal  them  at  the  polls 
where  they  cast  their  votes  as  directed,  and  these  form 
a  sort  of  balance  of  power  always  in  the  hands  of  the 
brewers.  And  every  new  drunkard  the  brewers  can 
make,  is  another  vote  for  the  brewer  and  the  balance 
of  power  grows  larger  each  year.  The  great  argument 
of  the  brewers  for  the  perpetuation  of  their  business,  is 
that  it  is  so  large  and  so  important,  that  it  is  depended 
upon  so  much  by  the  Government  for  Revenue,  that  to 
destroy  the  business  would  cause  great  financial  embar- 
rassment. It  this  is  true,  no  wonder  that  the  Govern- 
ment should  "Foster  and  enourage  the  beer  business." 

Every  new  saloonist  is  a  new  agent  tor  the  Govern- 
ment; every  drunkard  who  drinks  hinself  to  -death,  is  a 
true  patriot  and  dies  for  the  good  of  his  country. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT         195 


The  laws  have  been  so  loosely  made  and  so  feebly 
enforced,  that  we  hear  of  violations  of  licenses  every  day. 

If  those  whose  duty  it  is  to  enforce  the  laws,  had 
force  of  character  and  ability  enough  to  prove  their 
fitness  for  what  is  required  of  them,  no  saloonist  would 
dare  violate  the  law.  As  it  now  is,  the  saloonist  feels 
that  the  detective  is  appointed  for  his  protection  and 
his  only  care  is  to  keep  watch  of  temperance  watchers. 
If  a  saloonist  knew  that  for  a  single  offense  his  license 
would  be  cancelled,  there  would  be  no  violations. 

The  saloonists  believe,  as  we  do,  that  the  Prosecu- 
tor's detectives  have  not  the  ability,  or  they  have  not 
the  desire  to  detect  a  violation.  Which  is  it?  Whose 
fault  is  it? 

A  saloonist  said  in  my  hearing  that  a  Sunday's  trade 
was  worth  fifty  dollars  to  his  business,  and  if  he  sold 
beer  for  five  Sundays,  and  got  arrested  and  fined  two 
hundred  dollars,  he  was  still  fifty  dollars  ahead  of  the 
game;  and  his  chances  were  more  than  five  to  one  that 
he  would  not  be  arrested. 

It  stands  to  reason,  that  if  enough  patrons  of  the 
saloon  to  make  a  profit  of  fifty  dollars  in  one  Sunday, 
can  find  their  way  into  the  saloon,  the  Prosecutor's 
detective  chould  find  his  way  into  the  same  saloon. 

The  aptrons  find  their  way  into  the  saloon  because 
they  want  to;  the  detective  cannot  because  he  will  not. 


196         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


This  style  of  administration  of  republican  government 
will  soon  ruin  the  Nation;  and  it  is  already  so  weak 
that  there  is  not  force  enough  to  protect  men  from  the 
mob  and  riot. 

Politicians  and  officials  are  afraid  to  suppress  violence 
of  certain  classes  of  men,  for  fear  they  will  lose  politi- 
cal support.  The  worst  feature  of  the  condition  is  the 
innocence  of  the  people  who  lull  themselve  to  sleepy  in- 
difference to  the  conditions  and  allow  themselves  to  be 
duped.  At  the  rate  of  progress  the  people  of  the  U- 
nited  States  are  making  in  the  direction  of  greater  per- 
sonal liberty  regardless  of  law  or  moral  obligations;  it 
will  require  only  a  single  generation  before  anarchy 
will  prevail. 

When  a  man  is  elected  to  the  highest  office  of  the 
Nation,  it  is  his  duty  to  work  for  the  b«st  interests 
of  the  entire  Country,  and  not  use  his  official  position 
to  strengthen  the  party  that  elected  him;  for  it  some- 
times happens  that  a  person  is  elected  by  the  minority, 
and  in  that  case  he  would  not  be  President  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  but  the  President  of  a  party. 

There  is  no  greater  subject  relating  to  the  welfare  of 

man  than  the   liquor  traffic,  and  nothing   is  done  about 

it  by  the  government,  except  consider  it  as  a  basis  to  be 

reckoned  on  in  adjusting  tariff  and  providing  for  revenue. 

A  Government  that  depends  upon  a  traffic  in  alcohol, 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT          197 


that  "spares  not  the  high  nor  the  lowly,  that  corrupts  all 
that  is  brightest  and  best  in  manhood,  and  blasts  the 
fondest  hopes  of  youth;"  that  Government  is  supported 
at  the  sacrifice  of  its  unfortunate  citizens. 

The  political  candidiate  who  advocates  the  saloon  and 
who  is  "unalterably  opposed  to  prohibition,"  and  goes  be- 
fore the  public  and  pleads  for  the  votes  of  the  victims,  as- 
suring them  with  tearful  eloquence  that  if  they  will  only 
elect  him,  he  will  devote  himself  to  their  welfare  &c.; 
such  a  candidate  has  his  own  interests  at  heart  more 
than  he  has  yours.  What  greater  good  can  be  done 
for  man  than  to  abolish  the  greatest  curse  of  man? 

We  must  not  be  deceived:  the  man  who  will  maintain 
wrong  to  the  people,  for  his  own  benefit,  will  DO 
wrong  for  his  own  benefit.  It  is  human  nature  and  poli- 
ticians are  very  much  human. 

One  of  the  most  inexcusable  acts  of  the  lawmakers,  is 
the  law  that  places  the  responsbility  of  granting  licenses, 
on  the  Judge.  We  have  been  taught  to  regard  a  Judge 
as  a  dispenser  of  justice,  and  that  law  and  equity  were 
personified  in  him.  The  duty  to  grant  licenses  corrupts 
his  functions  as  Judge.  If  a  minister  of  the  Gospel 
should  administer  the  rite  of  Baptism  and  then  go  out 
and  dedicate  the  opening  of  a  beer  saloon,  it  would  be 
no  more  incongruons  than  a  Judge  acting  as  a  license 
Commissioner. 


198        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


The  comments  of  the  newspapers  on  the  incident  of  a 
Wineless  Dinner  given  by  William  J.  Bryan,  Secretary 
of  State,  were,  as  a  rule,  of  a  triffling  nature,  and,  while 
it  did  not  annoy  the  Secretary  in  the  least,  yet  these 
comments  showed  the  sentiment  of  the  newspapers  mak- 
ing the  comments  and  gave  evidence  that  nothing  can  be 
expected  of  the  newspapers  in  aid  of  the  temperance 
cause,  until  it  becomes  popular. 

Some  newspapers  seem  to  have  no  character  of  their 
own;  but  a  character  reflected  from  the  popluar  side. 
We  notice  that  the  papers  that  commented  unfavorably, 
publish  advertisements  of  the  beer  business. 

The  fact  that  the  Secretary  of  State  had  the  courage 
and  consistency  to  act  according  to  his  principles,  en- 
courages us  to  believe  that  there  are  enough  such  men 
in  the  country  to  enable  us  to  win  in  the  near  future. 

A  ship  may  contain  hundreds  of  passengers,  all  in- 
telligent and  of  good  character,  but  their  safety  and 
lives  depend  upon  one  man:  the  man  at  the  wheel  who 
may  steer  the  ship  against  an  iceberg  and  cause  all  on 
board  to  perish.  Even  so  the  great  majority  of  citizens 
of  the  state  may  be  of  the  highest  order,  and  the  few 
who  manage  the  ship  of  state  steer  it  to  destruction. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT          199 


Citizens  of  a  state  should  not  be  so  sure  of  their  safety 
that  they  neglect  to  watch  over  those  whom  they  have 
elected  to  make  and  enforce  the  laws.  "Eternal  vigil- 
ance is  the  price  of  Liberty." 

It  requires  but  a  grain  of  reasoning  power  to  arrive 
at  the  conclusion  that  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  by  an 
indlviduil  ho  continues  to  drink,  will  come  to  ruin, 
and  if  the  number  of  drinkers  increases,  at  any  ratio,  the 
time  will  come  when  the  nation  will  be  ruined;  the 
length  of  time  depending  upon  the  ratio  of  increase. 

Wonderful  improvements  have  been  made  in  the  last 
few  years.  The  application  of  electricity  to  so  many 
practical  purposes  has  made  improvements  in  mchinery. 

Chemists  have  discovered  new  substances  and  new 
uses  of  known  substances;  men  fly  with  the  birds,  in 
defiance  to  the  laws  of  gravity;  the  perfected  telescope 
has  extended  the  vision  of  man  and  the  actions  of  men 
have  been  reproduced  and  perpetueted  by  means  of 
moving  pictures.  When  we  see  all  these  we  wonder 
at  the  great  things  that  have  deen  done  by  the  pres- 
ent generation.  But  all  of  these  improvements  have 
been  done  by  the  few. 


200        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


These  improvemets  have  not  been  made  by,  but  in 
this  generation;  by  a  few  individuals  who  have  towered 
above  the  ordinary  world  of  men.  It  is  so  in  the  de- 
vclopement  and  maintainance  of  government,  a  few 
men  control  the  government  and  shape  its  policies,  and 
the  mass  of  the  people  have  no  voice  in  the  govern- 
ment except  to  talk  and  criticise. 

"That  government  is  best  which  is  best  administered." 


.  THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT       201 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

The  East  Side. 

Nations  that  have  once  been  of  high  standing  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  have  lost  their  nationality; 
cannot  place  the  blame  upon  the  lower  class  of  people. 

History  teaches  that  the  influences  that  have  corrupt- 
ed these  nations,  have  not  been  the  acts  or  conduct,  or 
the  character  of  that  class  called  the  common  people. 

The  gangs  and  slums  may  be  corrupt,  but  they  are  not 
the  corrupting  influences  that  threaten  our  country  to- 
day; but  the  dishonest  and  selfish  men  of  high  official 
standing,  and  those  of  social  standing  who  wear  a  robe 
of  respectability  to  cover  corruption.  Further,  we  ven- 
ture to  say  that  the  corrupt  principles  of  men  higher  up 
are  respensible  for  a  large  portion  of  the  corruption  in 
the  lower  grade  of  society. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  men  of  high  standing,  and 
apparently  respectable,  have  been  responsible  for  the 
fall  of  females  of  good  standing,  who  have  come  under 
the  influence  of  these  men,  and  have  been  reduced  to 


202        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


a    lower    level,     while    the  men  men   themselves,  still 
maintain  the  appearance  of  respectability. 

If  the  United  States  ever  loses  its  rank  among  the 
nations,  it  will  not  be  because  of  the  lower  classes,  but 
because  of  the  men  who  rule. 

If  our  country  is  ruined,  or  lowered  in  its  standing 
because  of  drunkenness,  it  will  not  be  so  much  the  fault 
of  the  drinkers,  or  of  the  beer-sellers,  as  of  the  lawmak- 
ers. The  investigations  now  being  made  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  reveal  an  astonishing  amount  of  rascality 
and  corruption  that  has  been  covered  up  by  a  cloak  of 
respectability. 

The  East  Side  section  of  New  York  is  often  referred 
to  as  the  gathering  place  of  the  lower  class  of  people. 

The  residents  of  this  part  of  the  city  are  disrespect- 
fully spoken  of,  and  considered  socially  inferior  to  the 
residents  of  other  sections;  but  they  have  been  misrep- 
resented, and  they  have  unjustly  suffered  by  a  faulty 
comparison.  They  have  been  judged  by  outward  ap- 
pearances, nnd  not  by  their  character.  A  majority  of 
these  residents  have  not  an  abundance  of  this  world's 
goods,  and  they  are  forced  to  live  in  cramped  quarters, 
and  dress  according  to  their  circumstances.  The  streets 
are  the  only  places  where  small  dealers  can  display 
their  goods  for  sale,  and  there  seems  to  be  a  noisy 
scramble  for  life. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT       203 


Considering  the  high  rents  charged  by  landlords;  and 
the  poverty  of  the  residents,  tfiey  do  the  best  they  can. 

Not-with-standing  their  disadvantages,  the  residents 
maintain  personal  characters  that  compare  favorably 
with  residents  of  other  sections  of  the  city. 

There  are  some  bad  and  wicked  men  in  the  East 
Side  but  this  class  generally  clan  together,  in  gangs  or 
clubs,  and  become  the  tools  of  politicians  and  corrupt 
officials  to  do  such  work  as  they,  the  politicians  dare 
not  do.  This  class  of  gangsters  may  be  wolves,  but 
they  dress  in  wolves'  clothing;  while  those  who  employ 
them  for  dirty  work  dress  in  sheep's  clothing. 

It  may  be  that  among  these  people  there  are  many 
cases  of  petty  thefts,  because  of  necessity:  "necessity 
knows  no  law."  It  is  also  true  that  there  are  many  large 
thefts  among  other  classes  of  residents  who  ?teal,  not  of 
necessity,  but  for  greed.  We  are  all  creatures  of  cir- 
cumstance: we  are  all  born  but  not  burried,  and  it  stands 
us  in  hand  to  be  charitable  toward  each  other. 

I  know  enough  of  human  nature,  not  to  trust  myself 
under  circumstances  of  extreme  want,  without  a  ray  of 
hope  of  betterment  in  the  future. 

The  object  of  touching  upon  this  subject  is  to  empha- 
size the  fact  that  however  bad  any  section  of  the  city 
may  be,  the  saloons  make  it  tenfold  worse  and  furnish 
club  rooms  where  none  but  bad  men  congregate. 


204         THK  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


The  investigations  now  being  made  show  that  "white 
slavery"  and  graft  are  peculiar  to  those  who  wear 
sheep's  clothing. 

We  do  not  wish  to  reflect  on  any  section,  or  on  any 
person  or  any  class  of  people  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
for  we  know  that  a  very  great  majority  of  the  people 
in  all  sections  of  the  city  are  pure,  upright  and  honest. 
What  we  have  said  is  only  reflection  upon  human  nature, 
for  we  are  all  creatures  of  circumstance  and  all  subject 
to  influences. 

Grace  and  s»ap  are  necessary  to  make  a  man  clean; 
some  require  more  soap  than  others,  but  all  need  grace. 

A  great  number  of  great  and  good  men  have  gone 
wrong  because  of  the  rum-shop  and  the  saloon. 

All  men  deplore  the  horrors  of  war  becaue  of  the 
thousands  of  lives  sacrificed.  The  United  States  uses  its 
influence,  and  is  generous  in  financial  aid  and  straining 
its  efforts  of  diplomacy  to  put  an  end  to  bloody  war. 

Every  Christian  and  every  lover  of  mankind  is  praying 
that  peace  may  come  and  the  horrors  of  war  may  cease. 

A  soldier  killed  in  flighting  for  his  country  has  glory 
attached  to  his  name  and  his  friends  are  honored. 

Over  one  hundred    and  fiifty-one  thousand  men   die 
each  year  victims  of  the  saloon  established  by  govern- 
ment diplomacy. 

We  should  shame  ourselves  for  our  inconsistency. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT       205 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


A  Community. 


The  power  of  the  human  mind  to  reason  is  limit- 
ed in  its  capacity.  Some  things,  which  regarded  as  a 
whole,  are  far  beyond  the  reach  of  reason  or  compre- 
hension. If  we  think  of  the  boundlessness  of  space,  we 
find  it  beyond  our  power  to  comprehend;  we  can  think 
of  it  only  logically.  If  we  think  of  it  as  being  limitless, 
that  is  all  we  can  do.  If  space  is  limited,  what  is  be- 
yond it?  It  is  easier  to  think  of  it  as  being  limitless  than 
as  being  limited,  and  this  is  the  extent  of  our  ability  to 
reason  on  the  subject. 

If  we  look  upwards,  we  can,  by  the  aid  of  the  tele- 
scope, discover  some  facts  not  visible  to  the  naked 
eye;  or  we  may,  by  the  aid  of  the  microscope  see  some 
things  not  within  our  natural  vision. 
We  may  by  a  chemical  process  analyze  and  discover  the 
elements  of  a  body  of  matter,  and  draw  some  con- 
clusions as  to  the  nature  of  the  substance,  but  in  all 


206         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


of  our  observations  by  the  telescope  or  the  microscope 
or  by  chemistry  we  must  confine  our  observations  to  a 
small  specimen  portion,  and  we  safely  conclude  that 
what  we  find  true  of  the  sample  portion  of  the  body,  is 
true  of  the  whole  body  under  consideration. 

If  we  study  the  texture  and  function  of  the  skin,  it  is 
not  necessary  to  take  the  whole  covering  of  the  body, 
but  a  small  portion  of  it,  and  what  we  find  true  of  it,  is 
true  of  the  whole.  If  we  wish  to  analyze  the  character 
of  a  nation,  it  is  not  necessary  to  consider  the  whole 
nation,  but  we  may  take  a  single  community,  and  what 
we  find  true  of  a  community  is  true  of  a  nation  com- 
posed of  like  communities. 

We  can  very  easily  determine  the  effects  of  habits, 
thoughts  and  practices  of  the  individual  on  the  character 
of  the  community,  and  thus  determine  the  effects  on 
the  nation,  or  aggregation  of  like  communities. 

For  our  purpose,  let  us  assume  a  community  of  one 
thousand  persons,  consisting  of  men,  women  and  child- 
ren in  the  usual  proportion,  and  let  all  be  of  the  aver- 
age intelligence,  and  all  of  good  moral  character. 

Isolate  this  community  so  that  it  has  no  connection 
with  any  other  community,  and  is  not  subject  to  any 
other  authority;  then  let  the  people  select  certain  per- 
sons in  whom  they  have  cofidence,  and  who,  they  think 
will  look  after  the  welfare  of  all,  without  partiality,  to 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT        206 


any.  Let  lawmakers  be  elected,  and  such  executives  and 
subordinates  as  may  be  necessary,  whose  duty  shall  be 
to  make  such  laws  and  perform  such  other  duties  as 
the  welfare  of  all  may  require,  with  equality  and  fair- 
to  all.  Now  if  some  one  of  the  community  discovers  a 
poisonous  plant,  and  finds  that  a  drink  prepared  from 
it,  when  taken  into  the  system,  produces  intoxication, 
and  some  one  of  the  community  learns  that  the  effects 
of  this  drink  upon  the  system  were  such  that  the  drink- 
er would  acquire  an  appetite  that  would  increase  day  by 
day  until  the  drinker  would  sacrifice  everything  to  satisfy 
his  appetite.  Then  suppose  that  some  one  should  ask 
for  and  receive  a  permit  from  the  chief  executive  or  of 
the  lawmakers,  to  sell  this  poisonous  drink  to  members 
of  the  community,  and  by  reason  of  that  permit,  a  very 
large  portion  of  the  community  would  become  drunkards 
and  neglect  their  families,  impoverish  their  children,  and 
commit  crimes,  and  fasten  disease  on  the  unborn  child; 
and  prove  a  curse  to  the  community:  Suppose  all  these 
evils  should  come  upon  this  model  community  in  the 
manner  set  forth;  what  would  you  say  of  the  lawmak- 
ers? We  wait  for  your  answer. 


208        THE  IRRPERESSIBLE  CONFLICT 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Stumbling  Blocks. 

There  is  a  class  of  men  who  are  upright  in  their  con- 
duct and  who  deplore  the  evils  of  the  saloon,  and  who 
only  once  in  a  while,  say  once  in  six  months,  on  occa- 
sions of  illness  when  the  feel  that  a  small  glass  of  some- 
thing in  the  line  of  alcoholic  drink  would  do  them  good, 
and  for  the  sake  of  saving  to  themselves  the  privilege  of 
two  drinks  a  year  as  a  medicine  only,  they  are 
not  opposed  to  the  saloon;  and  they  argue  to  themselves 
and  to  others  that  if  all  men  would  use  the  saloon  as 
they  do,  there  would  be  no  harm  in  the  saloon;  and 
those  who  misuse  the  saloon  are  very  weak  or  very  fool- 
ish, and  it  is  their  own  fault.  This  seems  plausible  and 
forcible,  but  it  is  not  sound  argument.  If  it  be  true 
that  none  but  the  weak  and  foolish  get  drunk,  there 
are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  habitual  drunkards  in  the 
United  States,  and  according  to  this  argument  there 
must  be  hundreds  of  thousands  of  weak  and  foolish  men. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT       209 


We  know  that  the  saloons  could  not  exist  on  the  pat- 
ronage of  those  who  drink  only  two  or  three  times  a 
year,  therefore  the  saloons  must  flourish  on  the  patron- 
age of  the  weak  and  foolish.  Is  it  a  wise  policy  to  es- 
tablish saloons  to  supply*  the  wants  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  weak  and  foolish,  and  make  drunkards  of 
them  ?  The  weak  and  the  foolish  are  not  desirable 
citizens  at  best,  but  to  make  drunkards  of  them,  adds 
tenfold  to  their  misfortune,  and  to  the  state's  shame. 

No,  Mr. .  Smartman,  there  are '  many  smart  men  who 
patronize  the  saloon  and  become  foolish  drunkards. 

One  is  foolish  to  form  the  habit,  but  the  smart  man 
who  is  so  sure  of  his  strength  to  stop  drinking  when  he 
reaches  the  point  where  he  thinks  it  necessary  to  stop, 
is  not  safe.  While  he  is  boasting  of  his  smartness  and 
ability  to  stop,  the  enemy  that  he  has  taken  into  his 
stomach  is  at  work,  forging  habit's  strong  chain. 

The  man  who  thinks  he  can  drink  alcohol  or  let  it 
alone,  will  drink  as  long  as  he  thinks  so;  and  when  he 
begins  to  feel  that  he  cannot  stop;  he  cannot. 

A  really  smart  man  ought  to  be  wise  enough  to  let 
poisonous  drinks  alone  and  not  take  it  into  his  stomach, 
the  only  place  where  the  enemy  can  get  the  advantage. 

The  strongest  minded  man  is  just  as  apt  to  become  a 
drunkard,  as  the  weakest  minded  man  if  they  both  drink. 

There  is  a  general  mis.use  of  the  word  "will;"  and  we 


210         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


are  inclined  to  think  of  it  affirmatively,  that  is  a  determ- 
ination to  do,  but  really  a  strong  will  is  a  strong  determ- 
ination to  do  or  not  to  do,  if  the  determination  is  not  to 
do.  we  might  call  it  a  WON'T.  In  a  strong-willed 
man,  the  "will"  and  the  "won't"  have  equal  chances.  A 
donkey  is  a  strong  willed  animal,  but  it  more  frequen- 
tly won't  than  will. 

In  usual  warfare,  it  is  the  policy  to  keep  the  enemy 
out  of  the  fortifications,  but  in  the  case  of  alcohol,  the 
most  deadly  foe  of  man,  men  will  take  it  into  their 
stomachs,  the  most  vulnerable  part  of  the  body. 

We  give  a  truthful  relation  of  circumstances  to  iilus- 
the  chances  of  a  strong-minded  man.  A  few  years  ago, 
there  lived  in  the  central  part  of  New  York  state,  in  a 
thriving  city,  a  talented  lawyer  who  had  a  large  prac- 
tice. He  was  an  upright,  clean  man  with  a  strong 
mind,  as  strong  as  any  man  could  have.  Relying  upon 
his  ability  to  drink  or  let  it  alone,  he  allowed  himself  to 
form  a  habit  of  taking  a  drink  occasionally  when  he 
thought  it  might  be  of  advantage  to  him  to  gain  the 
friendship  of  a  man.  He  continued  to  drink  occasion- 
ally, until  he  began  to  fear  he  wa  s  forming  an  appetite. 

He  then  pledged  himself  to  himself    not  to  touch    an- 
other drop  of  anything  intoxicating.     He    fought    hard 
from  day  to  day,  sometimes  in  hope  and   sometimes  in 
fear.     He  occupied  rooms  on  the   second    floor  of  the 


211         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


building  in  which  his  office  was  located,  and  sometimes 
when  about  to  leave  his  office  for  the  night,  he  felt  the 
inclination  to  drink,  so  strong  that  he  dare  not  leave 
the  building  until  he  had  overcome  the  desire.  When 
he  did  leave  the  building  on  such  occasions  for  his 
home,  and  having  to  pass  a  saloon,  he  made  it  a  pract- 
ice when  nearing  the  saloon,  to  run  with  all  his  might 
to  pass  the  saloon  before  his  resolution  weakened. 

This  he  did  many  times,  but  there  came  a  time  when 
he  dare  not  leave  his  office  at  the  usual  time  and  the  de- 
sire to  drink  came  upon  him  so  strong,  that  he  dare 
not  risk  passing  the  saloon;  and  he  locked  himself  in  his 
room  and  threw  the  door  key  out  of  the  window  rather 
than  risk  passing  the  saloon.  After  a  late  hour  when 
he  had  not  returned  to  his  home,  his  friends  came 
and  took  him  safely  past  the  saloon  to  his  home. 

We  are  sorry  that  we  must  record  the  fact  that  after 
many  heroic  efforts  to  save  himself,  this  strong  man 
died  a  drunkard. 

That  man  was   a  strong  man,  but    his    enemy    was 
stronger,  and  the  man  unwisely  gave  the  enemy  the  ad- 
vantage   by  putting  him  into  his  stomach,  and    when 
once  there  the  enemy  worked  quietly  until  the  strong 
man  was  bound  in  habit's  strong  chain. 

The  saloon  was  a  trap  set  by  the  lawmaker,  to  catch, 
not  only  the  weak  and  foolish,  but  the  strong  man. 


212         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


Our  friend's  idea  of  the  saloon  being  a  good  place  to 
get  a  little  medicine  once  in  a  while,  is  not  good. 

The  sick  man  who  does  not  know  what  is  the  matter 
with  him,  goes  to  the  saloonist  who  is  not  a  physician, 
and  asks  for  a  medicine,  of  which  neither  knows  any- 
thing except  its  name  and  the  patient  opens  his  mouth 
and  swallows  the  medicine. 

A  man  with  the  idea  that  he  can  get  medicine  at  a 
saloon,  will  often  be  sick,  for  the  medicine  he  takes  cre- 
ates a  desire  for  more. 

We  give  one  more  illustration  of  the    force    of  habit: 

Four  years  ago,  a  young  man  was  arrested  in  a  city 
not  far  from  New  York  city,  for  some  misedmeanor 
committed  in  New  Jersey,  while  intoxicated.  This 
young  man  asked  for  a  lawyer  to  help  him  out  of  trou- 
hle.  The  policman  called  a  competent  lawyer  who  relat- 
ed the  circumstances  to  me  as  follows:  The  young 
man  told  the  lawyer  that  his  father  lived  only  a  few 
miles  away,  he  was  able  to  help  him  out  of  trouble,  and 
he  wished  the  lawyer  to  telephone  to  his  father  for 
help,  the  lawyer  called  the  father  by  telephone  and 
informed  him  of  his  son's  trouble,  and  asked  what  he, 
the  lawyer,  should  do.  The  father  told  the  lawyer  to 
hold  the  telephone  until  he  could  consult  with  the  moth- 
er. The  lawyer  could  hear  the  conversation  between  the 
father  and  mother,  and  when  they  were  done  talking 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT         213 


with  each  other,  the  father  resumed  the  conversation 
with  the  lawyer.  He  told  the  lawyer  that  they  could 
do  nothing  for  the  son;  they  did  not  want  him  released. 

He  said  his  son  was  in  difficulty  time  after  time,  and 
his  conduct  was  becoming  worse,  day  by  day,  and  he 
was  more  frequently  in  trouble;  they,  his  parents,  had 
used  their  money,  their  influence  and  their  love  all  to 
no  good:  they  were  really  glad  that  their  son  was  in 
jail;  and  the  mother  prayed  that  he  might  be  kept  there 
a  long  time  for,  if  he  was  free,  he  might  kill  some  one. 

It  is  bad  when  loving  parents  pray  that  their  son 
may  be  kept  in  jail  to  save  him  from  the  State's  rum- 
shops. 

The  individual  who  says  he  drinks  only  two  or  three 
times  a  year  should  question  himself,  whether  the  pleas- 
ure justifies  him  for  not  helping  in  the  temperance 
work. 

Thousands  of  men,  including  many  lawmakers,  stand 
by  and  see  their  fellow  men  perish,  that  may  save  to 
themselves,  the  privilege  of  drinking  occasionally. 


214         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
The  Law. 

Unless  laws  have  an  element  of  certainty  in  them,  they 
are  laws  of  chance,  variable  in  their  application  and 
enforcement  according  to  the  wishes  of  parties  who  are 
supposed  to  enforce  them  or  accordiag  to  the  "pull'  'the 
offender  has.  The  strength  of  a  chain,  is  the  strength 
of  its  weakest  link,  and  the  strength  of  the  law  is  meas- 
ured by  its  weakest  points.  Laws  may  be  made  in  the 
strongest  terms  possible,  and  the  punishment  so  severe 
as  to  terrify  the  evil  doer,  but  if  there  is  no  certainty 
of  punishment,  evil  doers  will  take  chances  and  risk  de- 
tection. The  uncertainty  is  a  weak  link,  and  there  is 
no  strength  to  the  chain. 

The  excise  laws  as  laid  down  in  the  ordinance  of 
New  Brunswick  contain  two  terms  that  have  a  tendency 
to  cause  disrespect  for  the  laws  and  the  lawmakers  be- 
cause of  their  partiality  and  injustice. 

The  Ordinance  say  that  no  person  holding  a  license, 
shall  sell  after  one  o'clock  A.  M.  under  a  penalty  of 
twenty-five  dollars;  and  no  person  not  having  a  license 
shall  provide  or  furnish  intoxicating  liquors  at  any  time, 
under  a  penalty  of  on«  hundred  dollars. 

The  logic  of  this  law  is  that  it  is  a  less  offense  for  a 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT         215 


licensed  man  to  sell  at  a  time  when  he  is  forbidden  to 
sell,  than  it  is  for  an  unlicensed  man  to  sell  at  any  time. 

The  aloonist  is  a  non-licensed  man  between  the  closing 
time  and  the  opening  time  specified  in  the  ordinance. 

The  saloonist  has  the  monoply  of  the  business  for 
twenty-one  hours  of  the  day  and  should  be  satisfied  with 
that  and  in  consideration  of  his  privilege,  it  should  be  a 
greater  offense  for  him  to  sell  than  for  a  man  who  has 
no  privileges. 

The  heavy  fine  on  the  non-licensed  man  is  to  protect 
the  licensed  man.  Thousands  of  violations  of  the  laws 
relating  to  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  occur  weekly, 
in  saloons  that  are  licensed,  and  so  little  attention 
is  given  to  the  violations  that  the  saloonist  learns  to 
regard  the  laws  as  being  madt  for  his  protection,  rath- 
er than  for  restriction;  and  all  they  have  to  do  for  their 
safety,  is  to  keep  watch  on  those  who  oppose  the  sa- 
loons, but  it  is  not  necessary  to  look  out  for  those  whose 
duty  is  to  enforce  the  laws.  An  unenforced  law  is 
like  a  gun  without  ammunition. 

All  intelligent  people  know  that  the  laws  to  regulate 
the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  are  useless;  and,  assum- 
ing that  the  lawmakers  are  sincere,  must  conclude  that 
they  are  not  capable  of  making  better  laws;  but  assum- 
ing that  they  are  capable,  the  people  must  conclude 
that  they  are  not  sincere.  Let  them  explain. 


216         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


Nature's  laws  are  positive  and  always  active.  If 
Nature's  laws,  acted  differently  at  different  times,  they 
would  not  be  laws,  and  the  earth  might  be  destroyed 
in  a  moment.  Let  the  attraction  of  Cohesion  cease  to  act 
for  a  moment,  and  the  earth  would  crumble  to  dust;  or 
let  the  attraction  of  gravity  cease  for  a  moment,  and  ob- 
jects on  earth  would  as  soon  fall  upward  as  downward. 

Millions  of  passengers  are  carried  daily,  safely  from 
place  to  place,  but  the  safety  of  passengers  depends  on 
positive  rules  and  regulations.  The  rules  of  railroads 
relating  to  movement  of  trains,  by  means  of  signals,  by 
telegraph,  by  telephone  and  electrical  devices,  adhered 
to  secure  perfect  safety  but  if  these  regulations  are  lax- 
ly enforced  the  trains  would  run  by  chance,  and  there 
would  be  no  safety  no  matter  how  perfect  the  rules  are. 

A  man  regulating  his  life  and  conduct,  must  be 
positive  in  the  rules  he  makes  for  his  own  guidance,  for 
if  he  makes  the  enforcement  of  his  rules  subject  to 
circumstances,  he  is  but  a  creature  of  circumstance, 
and  only  lacks  opportunity,  to  do  wrong.  If  a  man  re- 
solves in  his  own  mind  to  live  a  virtuous  life,  EXCEPT, 
the  time  will  come  when  the  exception  will  come. 

The  penalty  for  violation  of  law  should  be  according 
to  circumstances. 

A  saloonist  will  take  the  last  cent  from  a  drunken 
father,  and  the  druakard's  child,  pressed  by  the  gnawings 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT       217 


of  hunger,  may  steal  a  loaf  of  bread,  and  get  put  in  jail, 
for  it,  but  the  saloonist  has  done  no  wrong. 

In  such  a  case,  the  penalty  for  the  child's  offense 
should  be  pity  and  advice  from  the  Judge;  and  a  good 
dinner  from  the  saloonist  who  took  the  last  cent  from 
the  father,  and  gave  poison  in  return,  leaving  the  child 
to  starve.  An  unlicensed  man,  in  any  other  business, 
who  would  by  any  mean  get  a  man  in  the  same  condi- 
tion that  this  man  was  in,  and  then  take  his  last  cenc, 
would  be  considered  a  heartless  brute;  but  the  saloonist 
is  expected  to  do  this,  for  he  is  appointed  by  the  Court. 

In  the  case  we  have  assumed,  the  worthlessness  of  the 
father  shuts  the  family  off  from  credit  for  bread  and 
meat  and  they  must  beg  or  steal  or  starve.  The  laws 
of  the  State  forbid  stealing;  and  the  laws  of  the  State 
causes  starvation  by  the  saloon  system. 

The  starving  child  has  no  respect  for  the  law  that 
causes  that  hunger  and,  naturally  has  no  respect  for 
the  law  against  theft.  The  saloon  directly  make  paupers, 
and  indirectly  make  thieves.  The  State  makes  saloons, 
directly,  and  indirectly  causes  crime  of  all  kinds. 

The  evil  doer  must  suffer  the  consequences  of  his 
evil  deeds.  A  man  may  plan  and  find  tools  to  commit 
murder,  and  feel  that  he  is  perfectly  safe  from  detection 
and  punishment,  but  the  very  class  of  men  that  he  has 
taught  to  do  the  work  turn  on  him  and  cause  his  pun- 


218         THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


ishment. 

The  men  who  use  foul  means  to  advance  their  own  in- 
terests, are  in  more  danger  from  the  men  they  make 
use  of  to  gain  their  desires,  than  they  are  from  any  oth- 
er source.  Tyrants  may  oppress  their  subjects  unjustly, 
and  in  course  of  time  these  subjects  become  anarchists, 
and  their  first  aim  is  to  destroy  those  who  they  think 
have  wrongfully  oppressed  them.  When  violence  is  re- 
sorted to,  to  redress  wrongs,  it  is  soon  resorted  to,  to 
accquire  what  one  desires.  It  is  because  of  this  principle 
of  vengence,  that  makes  it  necessary  for  men  occupying 
high  official  positions  to  be  so  carefully  guarded  and 
constantly  surrounded  by  detectives. 

When  a  community  advises  or  permits  a  saloon  to  be 
established,  the  community  has  committed  a  sin,  unless  it 
has  made  its  best  efforts  to  prevent  it,  and  it  will  sure- 
ly be  punished. 

The  saloon  is  a  school  where  young  men  cultivate  evil 
thoughts,  corrupt  conscience  and  deprave  the  mind. 

To  take  a  course  in  this  school,  one  must  forsake  his 
manhood,  and  get  rid  of  conscience,  and  responsibility. 

In  his  hard  struggle  to  accomplish  this  he  dims  the 
image  of  his  Maker,  enfeebles  his  intellect,  defiles  the 
body  and  endangers  his  soul.    This  school  is  a  part  of 
the  school  system  provided  for  the  youth  of  the  State. 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT         219 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

"A  Right  to  Do  Wrong,  is  Not  a  Right." 

The  Chief  Justice  of  The  Supreme  Court  of  The 
United  States;  in  giving  a  decision  in  a  case  involving 
the  principle  which  applies  to  the  right  of  license, 
said:  "A  right  to  do  wrong  is  not  a  right." 

The  word  "right,"  according  to  Webster,  has  several 
applications,  or  meanings;  the  word  being  used  with 
the  article  "a"  denotes  that  it  is  used  as  a  noun,  and  can 
have  but  one  meaning,  "Legal  Authority;"  the  decision 
then,  means  that  an  enactment  by  lawmakers,  which 
enactment  authorizes  wrong  doing,  is  not  a  legal  right 
in  fact.  Webster  says  that  the  abstract  noun,  means 
"Conformity  to  the  will  of  God,  or  to  His  laws,"  and 
is  the  perfect  standard  of  truth  and  justice. 

The  Constitution  provides  for  the  preservation  of  the 
rights  of  individuals,  and  it  also  provides  for  the  enact- 
ment of  such  laws  as  may  be  necessary  to  secure  the 
rights  of  individuals.  It  also  provides  Judges  to  pass 
upon  the  constitutionality  of  legislative  enactments,  but 
it  does  not  provide  for  the  enactment  of  laws  that  su- 
percede  the  Constitution  itself. 

The  legislature  has  power  to  enact  laws  to  incorpo- 
rate a  number  of  individuals  to  act  as  an  individual, 


220        THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


but  it  cannot  incorporate  a  body  to  act  contrary  to  the 
Constitution,  or  to  do  wrong,  It  would  seem  that  the 
legislature  had  fallen  into  the  belief,  that  as  it  has  the 
power  to  create  corporate  bodies,  it  can  confer  special 
privileges  which  do  not  exist  by  natural  right,  upon  indi- 
viduals. The  incorporation  of  several  individuals  to  act  as 
a  single  individual,  for  the  good  of  the  State,  is  very 
different  from  selling  to  an  individual,  the  privilege  of 
preying  upon  his  fellow  man,  and  it  surely  is  not  in 
"Conformity  to  the  will  of  God,  or  to  His  laws." 
Unless  there  is  a  standard  of  right;  there  is  no  standard 
of  wrong,  for  wrong  is  only  divergence  from  right.  It 
certainly  is  as  important  to  preserve  our  standard  of 
right,  as  it  is  to  preserve  our  standard  of  Weights  and 
Measures.  If  right  is  variable  in  its  significance,  wrong 
is  also  variable,  and  there  is  no  standard  by  which 
man's  conscience  can  be  guided,  and  the  less  obligation 
to  do  right,  the  greater  the  liberty  to  do  wrong. 

If  the  legislature  has  the  right  to  enact  laws  permit- 
ting a  little  evil  in  one  thing,  it  has  the  right  to  permit 
a  little  evil  in  every  thing.  The  principle  is  the  same 
as  to  the  power  to  legislate. 

If  the  propositions  in  the  foregoing  are  correct,  and 
if  the  decision  given  by  The  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  The  United  States,  is  correct;  and 
if  the  license  system  is  not  in  conformity  with  God's 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT         221 


will,  then  there    is    not  a  saloon    in  the  United  States 
that  has  a  right  to  sell  alcoholic  drinks. 

THE  END. 


